Tales of Mysterra I
by The-Writing-Dragon
Summary: Follow Victor, a recruit in the Lunar Guild, as he fights his way up the ranks in an attempt to become the greatest warrior Mysterra has ever known, all while combating the villainous Army of Darkness.
1. The Recruitment

Tales of Mysterra

Prologue

In a distant reality, much different from ours...

This is the setting of the following tale. In the land known as Mysterra, where only the strongest of warriors survive. Truthfully, it is a land where anything can happen. Where, you might say...worlds collide.

In this ancient land, there are 3 groups that help keep order in Mysterra. The first is the Solar Faction; it was the first to step up and take charge in this war-torn land, known by many for the sun emblazoned in red which stands as its emblem. The second is the Twilight Society, founded shortly afterward by the Solar Faction as a means to exercise control over a larger area; they were symbolized by a star-like emblem in green. For this very same reason, the Lunar Guild was founded; as the youngest of the three, it is commonly looked down upon, and is symbolized by a crescent moon in blue.

Not soon after the arrival of the Lunar Guild, the leader of the Twilight Society, the Twilight Monarch, was charged with a heinous crime; tampering in dark forces. Though the Monarch was soon exiled and killed, the Solar Faction feared a coup de atat, and war was waged. Without their leader, the Twilight Society was quickly subdued, put under surveillance to ensure that they stayed in line.

Despite this, not all has become well; ever since this incident, many other issues have been occurring over Mysterra, and many believe them to be connected...could this be true?

Chapter 1-The Recruitment

"...hey."

"..._snore_..."

"Get up. I said get up."

"..._snort_..._sniffle_..."

"I said get up, damn it!"

With this outburst, the bed was kicked over, seriously disrupting its inhabitant and dropping him painfully to the ground. As said inhabitant, a pale blue-skinned anthropomorphic dragon, climbed off the ground, he looked over the side of his former sleeping quarters, at a female who looked uncannily similar to him. "I was in the middle of a nice dream..."

The male dragon rubbed his hand across his disheveled white hair, which seemed to stick directly into the air on its own, forming a slightly drooping mohawk. The other looked quite similar, aside from the black jumper she wore, and that her hair drooped downwards more than his, having less of a mohawk form. The irate dragoness folded her arms, muttering, "Victor, you were the one that was waiting for today, so I was expecting you up a little earlier."

The dragon boy, Victor, began pulling himself to his feet groggily, looking up at the irritated female. "What about today?"

She was not impressed with this reply, and sighed in exasperation, "I never expected you to remember anyway...today the Celestial Alliance is coming to select new recruits." Victor's response was much more alert this time.

"WHAT? Damn, I forgot!" The now frantic reptile began rushing about the duo's tent in a blur, trying to collect his equipment; an open, brown-colored vest which revealed a star-shaped pendant around Victor's neck, in the middle of which a green gem was set. "Teresa, why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I tried," the dragoness Teresa replied, shrugging. Victor simple scowled at her, grabbing a hold of his weapon, a longsword, and strapping it to his back, before attempting to cram his breakfast down his throat. "Ahem."

Victor turned towards Teresa, who began waving a folder, in which were contained a series of unkempt papers. His fighter's report...the collection of everything he had done that was in preparation of this day, ranging from tourney records to tenures in specialized schools. Victor shot another glare at Teresa before snatching it away, stowing it in his vest. "I doubt you'll make a very good impression if you wake up 10 minutes before examination." Teresa added, before setting Victor's bed back up and causing him to suddenly gag on the contents of his mouth in shock.

"NOW you tell me?" he growled, quickly bolting out the door as Teresa rolled her eyes.

Before I get any farther ahead, I should explain where we are. The current setting is the town of Runisk. The 3 military powers comprising the Celestial Alliance, the Solar Faction, Twilight Society, and Lunar Guild, have come to accept new recruits into their forces. Victor has been waiting for this day for quite a while, as it has been his dream to become a great commander in the Twilight Society. He had been training for quite some time in order to make it into the ranks, and today, the opportunity is finally within his grasp.

Victor finally made it to the encampment building for Twilight Society recruitment examination, a large tent emblazoned with a green banner, a star design on the front. He ran up to the personnel, who glanced at the dragon boy from behind a desk with a bored expression. Panting, Victor held up said folder, which was snatched up by the examiner who proceeded to filter through the pages, occasionally nodding and shaking their head. After a few moments, the figure handed Victor his folder back; guessing that he had passed the first part, Victor proceeded to walk in, only to be pushed back by the guard standing next to the entrance. The dragon boy frowned, grunting, "The hell was that for?"

"He didn't say you could go in."

Victor narrowed his gaze. "But he didn't say..."

"You didn't pass."

Victor's shocked gaze was turned to the examiner, who continued, "There are qualifications. You didn't meet them. Simple as that."

A few moments passed, Victor attempting to form words in a pitiful attempt at a rebuttal. He finally stood up, turning away with a grumble; there went all his hard work, for naught. Now what was he going to do? As he walked off, he glanced at the two tents nearby the Twilight examination tent; those being for hopefuls trying to get into the Solar Faction or Lunar Guild. Victor thought this over for a moment; if he went back to Teresa, he'd no doubt get an earful from her about how she was SO right about him being unable to pass the test. On the other hand, he could try out for the Solar Faction or Lunar Guild; granted, the Solar Faction's standards were deemed to be even higher than the Twilight Society's, and Victor didn't exactly relish the thought of joining the Lunar Guild, given their less than stellar track record. But, what choice did he have?

After thinking it over, Victor approached the Lunar examiner's table, and reluctantly handed the examiner his folder. The figure looked the contents over, and like with the Twilight soldier, handed them over to him again wordlessly. Remembering what had occurred last time, Victor began to walk away with a sour expression, however, a voice stopped him from going too far. "Where are you going?"

Victor came to a stop, looking around at the source of the voice, the Lunar examiner. "You passed. You can go in now."

The dragon's eyes widened slightly, prompting him to look up at the tent, the crescent moon seemingly staring down at him from its perch on a dark blue banner. Finally, Victor looked down at the entrance, finally smirking and pushing his way inside.


	2. The Test part 1

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 2-The Test part 1

After entering, Victor walked into a somewhat large hall, filled with multiple long tables lining the room, and a doorway on the opposite side of the entrance. There were already some recruits here, however, Victor could tell they were rather pitiful; it was sorta embarrassing for him to be here, in his own opinion. He took a spot down at a table, folding his arms and sighing slightly. "ALRIGHT RECRUITS!" The booming voice prompted everyone to look up in shock. "STAND AT ATTENTION!"

All of the recruits scrambled to their feet, standing in a line side by side as Victor somewhat lazily took his spot amongst them. The door finally opened, a muscular anthropomorphic bloodhound entering the room, dressed in warden's attire. He looked the group over, frowning sourly before spitting on the ground. "I was actually expecting something...impressive. But it looks like I got the bottom of the barrel. Pathetic," he muttered, Victor frowning slightly at this comment.

The dog continued to look over the group, now pacing around in front of the group, a light clinking heard from his equipment after each step he took. "But, it is my job to separate the weaklings from those with even a shred of potential out of you lot. So...this is what we're gonna do!"

With this comment, the hound motioned to the door on the other side of the room, saying, "One person at a time will go in there. If you can make it out of there...you passed the test. Now..."

A wicked smirk suddenly found its way onto the hound's muzzle, unnerving most of the lesser composed recruits. "...who will go first?"

For a moment, the hall remained silent; Victor hadn't said a thing, instead wanting to gauge how difficult this test really was. "So, no one's gonna be the example?" the bloodhound murmured with a scowl. "Then I'll choose who's going in first."

Before any other movements could be made, the dog grabbed a random recruit from the crowd and pushed him through the door, closing it behind him. Victor sighed; this might take a while.

**-Meanwhile-**

In the recruitment tent for the Twilight Society, the hall was much more active, filled with recruits that were pushing and shoving each other in a frenzy; obviously a rather barbaric bunch. Despite this, there was one recruit that stood out quite well, remaining stoic and composed amidst the frenzied room. It was a rather slim anthropomorphic wolf, a black jacket lacking sleeves on his torso and coming down to his ankles, and a katana around his waist, held up by a plain brown belt. The wolf's eyes remained closed for the duration of his stay, until one of the soldiers accidentally bumped into him during the energetic mosh pit. "Hey, watch where you're-"

The soldier didn't get the opportunity to finish his sentence, as the wolf effortlessly grabbed a hold of his neck, slamming the recruit head-first into the table, cracking it straight in half and causing all eyes to turn to the wolf. He turned towards the crowd with a look of cold disdain; his left eye had a rather nasty scar, and was a bright yellow color as opposed to his reddish-colored right eye. "Now now, settle down everyone..."

All eyes went to the other side of the room, where a rather elderly hound, not unlike the one overlooking the Lunar Guild exam, was standing. "Save your strength for the test. All you must do is make it out of that door."

The recruits' attention was turned to a door behind the old dog, where a door, also similar to the one Victor had seen, was set up. "One at a time, please." Oblivious to the dog's request, the recruits began shoving their way towards the door, with the exception of the intimidating wolf, who began leisurely taking his spot at the end of the line.

**-Meanwhile-**

Many of the recruits were starting to get discouraged, a large majority of them having failed to emerge victorious from whatever challenge awaited them. After the dog received word that yet another recruit failed, he glanced over at the small amount left. "Next..."

Finally having seen enough, Victor stepped up, saying, "I'm going in."

The dog turned his attention towards Victor, the dragon being a few inches shorter than him once his hair was added into the equation; without the added height, Victor would've easily been about a full foot and a half shorter than him. Another evil grin crept onto the dog's muzzle, though his draconic target was unperturbed. "Good luck..."

With this comment, Victor headed into the room, soon finding it starting to slope downwards, meaning that he was headed underground. This didn't bother the dragon all that much, and he soon found the path in front of him opening up, revealing a rather large chamber. It wasn't so much the room that caught his attention; more or less, it was the intimidating mech in the middle of the room. Victor guessed it was at least 10 feet taller than him, and had four segmented spider-like legs along the bottom of its round, orb-like body. On top of this were four other appendages which held weapons, namely a buzzsaw, blaster, a blade, and mace.

Before Victor could examine the machine any more, a red light suddenly sprouted on its front, the mech starting to slowly stand up with a low grinding sound. Its eye soon settled on Victor, who frowned, crouching lightly in preparation for an attack. His cue came when the buzzsaw began spinning, before being shot like a projectile towards Victor, who expertly hopped to the side as the weapon smashed the ground, before being reeled back in. The dragon took this opportunity to lunge forward, grabbing a hold of the blade on his back. He quickly unsheathed his weapon, leaping at the mech and bringing his weapon downwards. Instead, however, one of the bladed arms blocked the attack, managing to knock Victor's weapon out of his claws before plowing him backwards with the mace.

Victor quickly toppled to the ground, rolling back to his feet and skidding to a halt, picking up his blade in the process. The mech obviously wasn't done, and proceeded to fire several large rounds of energy from its blaster arm, which Victor dodged by stepping to the side, all while rushing towards his opponent. Seeing that he was approaching, the mech prepared to fling its mace at him, only for Victor to quickly hop over the incoming attack, landing on the round object. The mech's bladed arm was the next to be hurled at Victor, who grunted, before quickly leaning to the side, causing the blade to just barely nick at his side.

Ignoring the sharp pain and the blood flying from the newly formed wound, Victor leaped at the mech, lifting his sword and delivering a smash onto the robot's metallic shell. The dragon's eyes shot open after his blade was deflected with a resounding clang, having no effect on his target. Victor let out a growl, watching as the blade arm was slung up at him, the dragon managing to block the stab with his sword and redirect it to the side. However, this also caused him to be sent flying back slightly, Victor landing with a thud on the mech's head. The slick surface caused him to begin sliding back, Victor growling angrily as he dug his claws onto his makeshift platform, trying to get a foothold. His desperate attempt was rewarded when his nails snagged on an opening, forcing Victor to hastily scramble to grab a hold of the object, which he noticed was a square shaped panel on the robot's head. "Wha?"

Victor grabbed a hold of the panel, which soon began creaking slightly, only to abruptly fly off from Victor's repeated prying, sending the dragon flying to the ground with a painful slam. He quickly got back to his feet, glancing at the opening in the mech's head that had been uncovered by the panel; Victor could barely make out a tangle of wires and various bits of machinery inside. "That's...a way inside..."

The mech began stumbling around, a thought slowly starting to form in Victor's head and causing the dragon to grin confidently. "If I can't destroy it from the outside...I'll have to destroy it from the inside!"


	3. The Test part 2

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 3-The Test part 2

With a ground-shaking crash, the mech fell to the ground; a huge gash was carved in the middle, almost as if it had been torn open. Standing in front of it was none other than the mysterious wolf, who looked completely unharmed; he sheathed his katana and exited the room, back into the hall where there were roughly half the recruits that there were previously. They began mumbling to themselves in wonder at the completely calm and unharmed wolf, while the elderly recruiter stepped towards him, clapping with a smile. "Oh, splendid! That's a new record! Well done! You've passed with flying colors!"

The wolf didn't seemed phased in the least with this praise, remaining intently focused on seemingly nothing. The hound looked at everyone who had passed, folding his hands behind his back and saying, "Well, that must be everyone. Now, if you will follow me..."

With this comment, the examiner walked off into a different door, the recruits following closely behind. Several corridors later, they came to a zeppelin sitting outside of the building; the blimp-like aircraft would take them to the main headquarters of the Twilight Society. Everyone filed inside, and soon, the zeppelin had lifted into the air, beginning its trip northeast, towards Twilight Plains...

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor was running around the robot in circles, avoiding its shots with increasing difficulty; they had seemingly gotten faster paced once Victor had revealed the opening in its head. The robot's rapid movements had made Victor's plan a little more difficult than he anticipated, and his attempts at landing inside had ended fruitlessly. Finally, Victor reached into his vest, pulling out a grappling hook attached to a rope. Swinging the weapon around, Victor dashed bravely towards the incoming energy shots, avoiding each attack swiftly. The buzzsaw was fired at Victor, who managed to barely leap over the attack, landing on the base of the weapon, allowing him to hear the near deafening whirring sound as it was reeled back.

As if sensing his strategy, the mech flung its blade towards Victor in preparation for a stab; he responded by slinging his grappling hook towards the open hatch, managing to catch the edge. With a mighty heave, Victor reeled himself in, managing to barely maneuver past the incoming blade, finally sliding into the hatch, the dragon finding himself amidst a tangle of wires and mechanical objects. Having next to no experience in mechanics, Victor did what he did best; he began severing all of the wires with his claws, smashing all of the equipment in the process. This had a noticeable effect on Victor's enemy, as the mech began vibrating, losing all control and swinging its weapons around in a frenzy, before coming to a halt, its legs buckling underneath it and causing the mech to collapse. Victor fell silent, finally wiping his brow and sighing, "Whew..."

The dragon began clambering out of the opening a little noisily, finally poking his head out of the opening. Before he could get very far, a sound finally came to his nonexistent ears; a low beeping. It was only now the dragon began wondering why the mech had stopped so soundly; he expected some other form of deactivation method, or at least an exp-

_*Beep*...*beep*...*beep*..._

Victor, now with widened eyes, slowly looked down at the mech with a shocked expression. "...aw, hell no..."

Back in the hall, the remaining recruits had become somewhat worried over Victor's well being and results. However, the bloodhound refused to say anything over the matter. "It ain't over until I receive word that he failed, or until he comes back out."

Before any more complaining could go on, a boom was heard from behind the door, causing everyone in the room to jump in surprise, including the dog. The group headed into the opening, where they saw a large blaze going on in the middle of the room, encompassing what had remained of the mech. Everyone gawked at the scene; had Victor been wielding explosives, they wondered? To answer their question, Victor seemed to fall out of the ceiling, blackened with soot, and bloodied all over from the explosion. Everyone stared at him, until someone asked shakily, "Is he dead?"

To check, the dog bent down and poked Victor's arm, resulting in a cough and groan from the dragon boy, signifying that he had survived. Nodding, the hound called for a paramedic, looking down at Victor and thinking, "This kid's got guts. Not only did he find a way to destroy the mech, but in a way both effective and...a little dramatic."

Soon, paramedics had arrived and began tending to Victor, lifting him in a stretcher and departing to tend to him. The other recruits stared at him for a few moments, until the dog clapped his hands together, shouting, "Alright, new recruits! We still have some people left to examine! Back into the hall!"

**-Later-**

After seemingly regaining consciousness, Victor found himself in the middle of a wasteland, sword fighting with a large ogre like creature, a stark contrast to his earlier setting. It was a rather recurring dream Victor had, him in the field of battle and slaying a powerful enemy for fame and glory. The dragon matched his opponent blow for blow, until he finally managed to knock the weapon out of its hand, finishing the fight with an upward slash, knocking the ogre over with a grunt and a flurry of blood. Victor smirked victoriously, stepping over his felled opponent and lifting a fist into the air; instead of a crowd of cheers, he heard something a little different.

"Is he waking up?"

"No, it looks like he's still unconscious."

"Well, we'll just have to wait until he wakes up. Get back to work everyone."

The calm voices were soon accompanied by a shuffling of feet, Victor looking around in confusion as his dream world began falling apart, everything fading to black. This black was soon cleared when Victor groggily opened his eyes, groaning lowly and trying to lift a hand to his face, the light almost blinding him. Not only was he unable to open his eyes for fear of losing his sight, his arm was almost completely immobile. A few moments passed, until Victor heard a female voice saying, "He's waking up! Get the head doctor in here! Hurry!"

After adjusting to the light, Victor finally opened his eyes fully, finding himself staring at a white ceiling. His movements were almost completely shut off, with the exception of his head; Victor shifted around to allow him to see where he was exactly. A desk with several vials and bottles, a doorway leading outside of the room as well as a closet, and finally, Victor himself, who was laying in a bed, covered in bandages. No doubt about it, he was in the medical wing. Or, something similar. Wait...medical wing of what exactly?

Victor's train of thought was interrupted when the door opened, the dragon turning his head to see a nurse entering. "He's right there, Doctor."

The voice that responded was squeaky and high-pitched, not to mention young-sounding; Victor couldn't see them either, so he could only go with the crazy assumption that whoever this doctor was had to be a child, or a midget. "Thank you, Nurse. You are excused."

Said nurse bowed and left the room, while Victor heard a low clacking sound on the floor; hooves? This was soon accompanied by a low grinding sound, a stool being scooted on the floor towards him. "Alright, what have we here?" Suddenly, the owner of the voice made themselves known; a brown furry face, with a fuzzy, pink top hat adorned with a cross-shaped bandage on the front. A pair of antlers protruded from right above the brim, the left having a metal ring along the base; finally, this cervine-like creature had a blue nose and wide eyes, which focused intently on Victor, blinking slightly.

"Wait...who are you..." Victor asked with a low groan.

The little reindeer smiled cheerily in response, and replied, "My name's Tony Tony Chopper, and I'll be your doctor today! You can just call me Chopper, though."

This was as good a time as any to figure out where he was. In order to satiate his curiosity, Victor began to ask his question while Chopper examined his body. "Where am I? And how did I get..."

Chopper put a hoof to Victor's mouth to stop him from talking, and said softly, "You should just quit talking for now. You need to save your energy. But, since you're curious, I'll tell you."

The reindeer looked up and began to explain. "You were in the middle of the examination..."

The memory of the examination came back in an instant; Victor's eyes widened, and he gasped with a start, "Wait, did I make it?"

Chopper put his hoof back to the dragon's mouth to keep him quiet, and retorted with mild irritation, "I told you that you need to rest! Now where was I...oh yeah, the examination." Chopper had by now began scooting his stool towards the desk and was writing something down on a clipboard, while mixing some chemicals together. "Yes, you passed, but you were seriously injured. So they sent you to me, the Lunar Guild's top doctor. You appear to have many burns on your body, but those will heal eventually. Anyway, as for where you are, you're on board the Lunar Hill's 6th zeppelin! Lunar Hill is the main headquarters for the Lunar Guild, which is where we're headed right now. So, you just rest, we're working on getting you back into shape by the time we get there!"

The reindeer finally finished mixing the medicine together, hopping from his stool and gripping the result. "Now, we're expected to arrive tomorrow, so get plenty of rest. I've got some other business to take care of for now, but we'll probably be meeting again. Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow!"

With this, Chopper left the room, closing the door and leaving Victor in there by himself, immobile and with nothing to entertain him. The dragon ignored this, instead looking back up to the ceiling with a cocky smirk. He had made it into the Lunar Guild after all...not exactly what he had planned initially, but he could make do. His next step; work his way through the ranks, one step at a time. Right now, his attention was focused on getting to Lunar Hill...


	4. The True Star Enters?

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 4-The True Star Enters?

After Chopper had left the room and closed the door, he began shuffling towards his quarters, stowing the medicine bottle away in his backpack, being the only accessory he had aside from his hat and a pair of purple pants. Chopper's walk was stopped when he heard a low beeping coming from said sack, prompting him to reach inside and pull out a walkie-talkie, setting it to his ear.

"Yes?"

"The Guildmaster requests your presence."

Chopper wrinkled his brow in curiosity; the Lunar Guildmaster was the one in charge of everything that went on in the Lunar Guild. "Why? I thought he was busy and stuff."

"It concerns the rumors we've been hearing of late." That didn't console Chopper in the least, and made him shudder slightly. "He wants to see everyone in the highest ranks to discuss it. It's...quite confidential."

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute..."

Chopper ended the transmission and ran towards the screening room, where the Guildmaster would be speaking to them directly from Lunar Hill. The reindeer had soon left the hallway to Victor's room, unaware of a figure rushing down the hallway in a frenzy.

In Victor's room, he had continued to stare blankly at the ceiling, sighing in a bored fashion before he closed his eyes. "Maybe I can catch a few z's before we arrive in-"

"Get back here! You're gonna regret this when we catch you!"

Victor's eyes shot open once the door to his room had burst open, a small figure lunging inside. Victor was unable to make out the being aside from an orange blur, which immediately leaped into his closet without another word, as several other recruits stormed into the room, looking around. "Damn it, where'd he go?"

A quick scan of the room yielded nothing but the bedridden Victor. "Geh...he may have faked us out again. Let's go!"

With that, the crowd departed, leaving Victor sitting alone, a dumbfounded expression frozen on his face. A few moments passed, until the closet door creaked open. An eye poked out, obviously looking to see if his pursuers were gone. Once it was certain of this, a figure stepped out; truly, it was one of the most bizarre looking things Victor had ever seen. It was some sort of orange ball-shaped creature...with arms and legs, and very spiky hair sticking outwards...or was it even hair at all? It more or less resembled thick, thorny protrusions coming out of his back. The ball thing wiped his brow in relief, murmuring, "That was close."

Before Victor could question the strange figure, they pulled out of nowhere what appeared to be an ugly wooden doll in a baby's outfit, and exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "They nearly got you! I'm so glad I got rid of them!"

The figure had donned a blonde-colored wig, lipstick, and makeup to accompany this bizarre act. Victor had become utterly confused by this point, but finally managed compose himself enough to yell irritably, "Who the hell are you?"

The strange figure had seemingly removed his disguise, glancing at Victor with a curious expression. However, he abruptly turned away with a serious expression, retorting bluntly, "Why do you care?

"You hid in my closet. Plus, I didn't rat you out. I could have easily..."

Victor's response was cut short when the person turned around with a smirk. "I'll tell ya why you care. Because I...am the TRUE star of this story!" The figure struck a pose, pointing a finger into the air and shouting, "The coolest of cool! The main character everyone loves! I am Don Patch!"

The orange blob pointed a finger at Victor, finishing seriously, "That answer your question, minor character?"

A vein popped from Victor's head in irritation, the dragon growling in annoyance, "Yeah, it does. I now know that you're some complete whackjob with a superiority complex."

Don Patch smirked at this, waving a hand around as if to dismiss his comment. "Hmph, your facade is so cute. Thinking you're even CLOSE to being as important as I." The orange blob abruptly held up a clipboard, wearing a pair of sunglasses. "See? This list is for V.I.P.s only! And you're not on it!"

Victor was quickly starting to get irritated with this figure and his antics. He wished ever so much to be able to move and slaughter this figure...and, as if finally deciding to yield to his commands, he slowly clenched his fists, the feeling returning to his body. "Well, why don't you and your ugly little doll get out of my room before I knock you clear outta the sky?"

Don Patch seemed taken aback at this, gasping with an unusual amount of detail having been shown in his expression. The orange blob began stroking his doll, cooing in a childish tone, "Oh, don't worry, he didn't mean it, he's just a big stupid head. He can't move, they said he's incapable of anything for a little while..."

"Why don't ya come over here and say that...?" Victor asked with a sinister smirk; the overly gullible Don Patch hopped towards him with a dopey expression.

"Oh, good idea! Doing it right in your face will allow for you to get the-"

Don Patch's comment was abruptly cut off when Victor plowed a fist into the side of his face, catapulting him into the wall, smashing it to pieces and stunning the recruits that were walking down the halls. Don Patch slowly looked up as Victor began stepping out of bed. "Tch, so you can still move after all, huh? Not a problem for me..."

Victor began unwrapping the bandages on his hands, clencing his fists as Don Patch reached behind him, yelling, "Now feel the wrath of...my Don Patch Sword!"

The dragon gritted his teeth at this; he wouldn't be able to compete against another blade, with his having been in storage for the trip. Don Patch drew his weapon, prompting Victor's jaw to drop as he uttered in stupification, "What the..."

As opposed to an actual weapon, Don Patch had unveiled a leek, pointing it at Victor. "Feel the wrath of the TRUE star of this tale!"

Victor sweatdropped in confusion; he found it ridiculous that his opponent was fighting with such an ineffective "weapon", but, hey, his funeral. Victor jumped at Don Patch in preparation for an attack, however, the blob had jumped over the incoming attack, and his opponent ended up crashing face first into a wall, sinking to the floor slowly. Don Patch began making faces at Victor once he landed, which only enraged him further once he turned back to him. Noticing his angered expression, Don Patch broke into a run, forcing Victor to begin chasing him, letting out a growl. "Hey! Get back here!"

Victor immediately noticed that his body wasn't fully healed, as he wasn't running nearly as fast as he should. Don Patch was already getting way ahead of him; if Victor didn't start speeding up, he would lose him.

**-Meanwhile-**

Chopper was continuing his trek towards the screening room, walking alone through the hallways, deep in thought. This involved the rumors...the same ones about the recent incidents all being connected? It gave Chopper a chill thinking about it, and made him really hope that he was going to dispel the rumors, though it seemed quite unlikely.

The reindeer's train of thought was interrupted when he heard the sound of feet pounding on the floor. "Get back here, damn it!"

Chopper whirled around at this, finding none other than Don Patch rebounding off a wall from a different hallway, charging towards the reindeer. Following close behind was Victor, who looked rather angered. "You?" Chopper gasped.

With a low grunt, Chopper bowed his head, crossing his arms as his formerly squeaky voice began changing, becoming much more gruff. Suddenly, the reindeer had completely changed his body, becoming much more taller, muscular, and humanoid, letting out a gruff roar. "Whoa!" Don Patch remarked, hastily sliding in between Chopper's legs as he went to swipe at him, prompting the less prepared Victor to crash into the now muscular deer, sending both toppling to the ground.

His escape successful, Don Patch waved back to Victor, shouting, "Later loser! Hahaha!"

The orange blob disappeared down the corridor, while Victor and Chopper clambered to their feet and watched. Victor gritted his teeth, growling in irritation, "Damn it! He got away!"

He prepared to give chase, but was cut off when the scruff of his vest was grabbed by an annoyed Chopper. "Hold it!" He forced Victor to turn around to him, Chopper shouting in shock, "What are you doing out of bed?"

The dragon boy blinked for a moment, wondering whether this large figure was truly the tiny doctor he had encounter before. Victor finally managed to begin sputtering in shock, "That guy! He...he ran into my room...and just started acting like a jackass! I was about to chase him until I ran into..."

Chopper cut Victor off in midsentence, scolding irritably, "Never mind! I told you to stay in bed!"

Victor was about to protest that he WAS moving as of now, but was cut off when when Chopper dropped him, grunting, "Ah, forget that now! I'm late for a meeting, thanks to you two! Now get back to your room!"

With this comment, Chopper transformed yet again, this time into a more feral deer-like figure and dashing off with increased agility. Victor simply stared with a blank expression at the figure, blinking for a moment before running a hand over his snout. "Geez...great first impression that was..."


	5. Lunar Hill

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 5-Lunar Hill

Once Victor had been taken care of, Chopper dashed on to the Guildmaster's quarters. The deer hoped that he wasn't too late for the meeting...whatever it was about. He finally came to a stop in front of a door reading "High-Ranking Personnel Only". Chopper knocked on it, a voice on the other end asking, "Passcode?"

"Indentation," Chopper responded, only to suddenly put a hoof to his chin in thought, as if he were unsure of his answer. "Or...was it indigestion? Instigation? Maybe..."

"Just get in here Chopper..." the voice utterd with a tired expression.

The door opened slightly, allowing for the tiny reindeer to slip inside amongst the other generals all over the room. Chopper looked them over, then stepped into his own seat, turning to the other end of the room, where a blue crystal orb had been embedded in the wall. It abruptly began glowing brightly, prompting everyone to stand up, though Chopper opted to stand up in his chair for additional height.

Suddenly, a light was projected from the orb, taking the form of a screen, which finally cleared up to give an image to those gathered. A room with a somewhat long desk and three figures behind it; on one side was a human teen with black hair tied into a ponytail and a green outfit comprised of a jacket and pants. The other was a much different creature; a humanoid creature resembling a mix of dragon and rabbit, with white fur coating his body, long pointed ears, and a blue coat under black shirt and pants. In the middle of them was a figure sitting in a seat; a short white-furred figure with spiky hair-like extensions on the back of his head, yellow eyes, and a blue cloak resting on his shoulders.

"Guildmaster Silver," the soldiers murmured, proceeding to give a momentary bow.

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor had returned to his room, looking over the large hole he had created after attacking Don Patch. Some soldiers were already working on fixing it. The dragon ignored them and flopped onto his bed, heaving out a sigh. What now...

A voice interrupted his train of thought. "Delivery for a mister 'Victor the Dragon'."

Said reptile looked around in annoyance. "Do you mind? Yeah I'm Vic-"

He was silenced when he noticed that the voice belonged to none other than Don Patch, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a mustache, and what looked like a paperboy's hat. "No, I'm looking for Victor, not 'Vic'."

A vein popped from Victor's head as he lunged at the blob, only to fall to the floor when he hopped out of the way. "Damn it! You!"

The dragon got back up, only to notice the orange orb running away. "Hey! Get back..."

He was abruptly interrupted when he noticed some sort of device at his feet. The dragon looked down, scooping up the box-like object and murmuring, "What the hell's this...?" He noticed a button on the side; it must've been a tape recorder. Though he was suspicious, Victor pressed the button, resulting in whatever message it held being played.

"Victor...that's right, I know your name, 'cause the main character ALWAYS knows the names of the lesser characters!" Victor sighed irritably, but sat back down on the bed to listen to whatever it is Don Patch was talking about. "Anyway...don't think that I'm finished with you. You're gonna get it soon enough. When is soon? Soon is soon, so stop asking!" Victor fell silent, as it sounded like Don Patch coughed. "Tomorrow, after the induction ceremony, we'll settle this."

With this comment, Victor abruptly crushed the recording device in his claws, a wicked smirk finding its way onto his snout. "I accept. Don Patch...you're DEAD."

**-Meanwhile-**

Back at the meeting, the white furry animal seated in the middle had lifted his gloved hand, revealing the light blue markings on the palm. "You may be seated."

All of the soldiers in the room sat down as they were instructed. The animal, Silver, folded his arms together, "Thank you. Now then, I guess that you're all wondering why I brought you here." He closed his eyes, looking down, they back up with a serious expression. "Well, it has to do with the nasty rumors going around. The ones about the recent events."

This immediately started a bit of discussion among the crowd, Chopper feeling another chill run down his spine. "Now, now settle down," the black-haired teen murmured in a bored tone, rubbing the back of his head once everyone had calmed down. "Geez, controlling you all is such a drag..."

Silver glanced back at the teen with a sigh, as the furry dragon spoke, in a calm yet authorative tone, "We're sure that this is a hot topic among all of you. Anyway, we have been hearing reports from all over the place that warriors have been going out in the middle of the night and not returning; this is awfully focused in the Twilight Plains area."

Some more conversing went along amongst the group, though it was less rambunctious than before. Silver was the next to speak. "Now before we get ahead of ourselves, I want to make it clear that this is only a guess, that MAYBE it has something to do with what all has been going on. I'm not saying for sure, but it is a safe guess."

Everyone nodded. "So, tomorrow, when we touch down, I want everyone to be on your toes when the induction ceremony starts," Silver finished. "Since the Twilight Society and Solar Faction will be participating here this year, I want to make sure that this goes by with out a problem."

"Yes sir," the soldiers nodded, Silver nodding in understanding.

"Good," the furry dragon said, suddenly adopting a rather warm and inviting smile and closing his golden-colored eyes. "Now, that brings us to our second point of discussion..."

**-The following day-**

Victor had been in the midst a very nice dream, involving the senseless beating of Don Patch with a series of blunt objects and pointy things, only to be interrupted when a ringing noise tore him from his sleep. The dragon opened his eyes with a small grumble, only to lift up a fist and smash the clock into several pieces, halting the ringing. "We have now touched down in Lunar Hill. Please pack all of your belongings and exit the zeppelin."

The female voice echoing through the halls prompted Victor to completely wake up, proceeding to gather the little equipment he had with him, including his blade that had been set by his bed in the midst of the night. He followed the crowd out of the zeppelin, soon finding himself on the top of a zeppelin tower, where a few others were also getting off of their crafts. Victor glanced at one of the windows, giving him a birds-eye view of his current location.

Lunar Hill was very scenic, and looked..."pretty" seemed to come to mind. Victor might've even waxed poetic and used "beautiful"; even though it was morning, the sky was still quite dark, although there were signs that the sun was coming up, namely in the form of a small orange ring poking from the hillside. Streetlights adorned the grassy streets, which cast the entire area in a yellow glow, accentuated by what could've been considered as a near literal "fog" of fireflies. Some lights were still on in the medieval-style houses, making the area look both lit and darkened at the same time. Victor was sure that Teresa would've like it...and so his memory was abruptly jogged.

Teresa. He had promised to write to her when he touched down at the base. Victor knew that he would get the chance to eventually; right now, he needed to find out where he was going. He had remembered Don Patch's message saying something about an induction ceremony...where all of the newest recruits would officially become new soldiers. With this in mind, the dragon followed the crowd out of the tower and towards a rather noticeable hill situated at the end of the area; there, a large, ornate castle was perched at the very top, surrounded from behind by what looked to be a wall.

All of the soldiers were allowed inside, where they were to congregate in a training area to await the ceremony. Victor immediately began scanning the room to see if he could locate any promising warriors he could get acquainted with; while there were several who looked rather skilled, most looked a little less impressive. Victor let out a sigh and went to step into the crowd, only to be interrupted by a mock feminine voice. "Oh! Hiiiiiii Victor!"

The dragon's eyes shot open, prompting him to utter, "You've GOT to be kidding me..."

He very slowly turned his head enough to see the source of the voice; as he had feared, Don Patch was standing a short distance away, donning a schoolgirl's outfit, a wig, and lipstick. He sure did have a thing for crossdressing. "Hiiiii!" he called again, beginning to prance over.

"Just ignore him and he'll go away..." Victor grumbled to himself, trying to walk away, though Don Patch had continued trotting after him without a care in the world.

"It's sooo good to see you again!" he continued, seemingly oblivious to the dragon's increasing temper. "I'll bet you're curious about how Julie's been doing, so I got a bunch of pics of her and her new boyfriend to sho-"

Don Patch was abruptly silenced by a kick to the side of his face from Victor, which sent him flying through the crowd and slamming into a wall with a crash. This attracted everyone's attention, and brought the noisy room to a standstill. "Would you shut the HELL up?" Victor growled.

A few moments passed, until Don Patch finally stood up, wiping his mouth off with a smirk. "Now now, don't get hasty," he commented with an evil grin. "I thought we were waiting until the induction ceremony before we got dirty."

Victor narrowed his gaze with a growl. "If you don't watch yourself, you'll end up on your knees sooner than you think."

"Ha!" Don Patch shouted, pointing forward with a cocky smirk. "Don't be arrogant, minor character! You're the one that'll be begging me for mercy!"

All of the other solders glanced at each other in confusion, Victor growling in increasing anger, "Tch...you're one to talk. When I'm done with you, I'll have pounded your ass so hard you won't sit straight for a week!"

The other soldiers continued to blink, some of them stepping back with a worried expression. "We'll see about that!" Don Patch roared, lunging at Victor with a crazed grins plattered all over his face. Victor responded to this by lifting up his foot, before slamming it forcefully on Don Patch, plowing him into the ground and causing everyone to wince.

"Oohh, harsh!" Don Patch grunted from underneath Victor's foot. "But if you wanna do it right, you're gonna need this."

The orange blob proceeded to hold up a whip, Victor glancing at it with a blank expression. "The hell do I need this for?"

"'Cause I've been naughty!" Don Patch retorted, having spontaneously strapped to the wall. "You've got to punish me!"

Victor fell silent, staring at Don Patch with a blink. "What the hell are you doing no-"

"Excuse me."

Both abruptly turned their heads towards the source of the voice; slowly edging from the crowd was a short figure, a fox. His fur was a golden yellow, his belly and muzzle colored white, and some unkempt bangs protruding blatantly from his forehead. He wore gloves and a pair of sneakers; what was most noticeable about this figure was the pair of fluffy tails occasionally swishing behind him. Victor blinked, then uttered in clear irritation, "What do you want, pipsqueak?"


	6. The Induction Ceremony

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 6-The Induction Ceremony

Silence overtook the room once again as everyone's glance shifted to the small fox that had interrupted. Victor and Don Patch both blinked at this, Don Patch mumbling, "Do ya mind? We're kinda in the middle of something.

"I can see that," the fox responded in a firm tone; despite this, Victor could easily sense his unease.

"In that case, butt out!" the orange blob shouted, turning back to Victor. "Hey! You! Get back to work!"

Victor responded by jamming the whip in his hands into Don Patch's mouth, glaring at the fox out of the side of his eye and causing said vulpine to abruptly shiver, his attempt at a calm demeanor starting to fall apart. "What do you think you're doing, kid?" he mumbled in an intimidating fashion.

Before the fox could offer a response, Don Patch called, "Oh, maybe he wants to join in too!"

The orange blob abruptly broke free of his constraints, and handed the bewildered vulpine the whip that Victor had attempted to shove down his throat. "In that case, you're gonna need this."

"B-but I don't..." the fox stammered, blinking in confusion as a discreet red glow became visible on his cheeks.

Before Don Patch could offer another response, Victor had stepped on him once again, plowing the blob face-first into the ground and staring down at the fox in an intimidating manner. "What's your name, kid...?"

The vulpine blinked again, and stammered, "M-Miles, but everyone calls me T-Tails..."

Victor furrowed his brow, glancing at the two appendages protruding from behind the fox. "Well then, 'Tails', if you have the gall to interrupt us, then I don't think you'd have any reserves in actually backing up your words."

The vulpine, Tails, let out a gulp, and mumbled, "I-I was just-"

"Just what? What were you possibly trying to accomplish by speaking up?" Victor murmured.

Tails fell silent, shuddering once again as Victor leaned away from him. "That's what I thought." He folded his arms, and continued, "By sticking your nose where it didn't belong, you automatically became involved. And therefore..." A malicious smirk came onto Victor's snout. "...you're a target as well."

The vulpine gulped again, mumbling, "I-I...I, um..."

"You will meet us in the courtyard after the induction ceremony. See you there."

With this final comment, Victor began walking off, deciding to take a look around his abode for now; when the time came, that annoying Don Patch and the interloper would get theirs. As Victor left the room, he was unaware of a furred dragon/rabbit figure standing next to the doorway, having been watching the scene the entire time.

Meanwhile, Tails had sunk to his knees, hanging his head with a sigh and shuddering. "I should have never agreed to this...Knuckles was right. I've already gotten a bully mad at me, and it's not even because I'm 'different'! I might as well get out of here before I get myself killed..." The fox opened his eyes with a dreary expression. "But then...what would Sonic say?" He fell silent, then looked up slightly. "I've got to face up to this. If I can beat him...maybe I'll have a chance after all..."

"You know, you're in way over your head if you think you could stand up to him." Don Patch's abrupt comment caused Tails to yelp in surprise and whirl around in shock.

"Y-y-you?" he stammered in confusion, watching as Don Patch wrapped an arm around the fox's neck, pulling him closer with a confident smirk.

"I'm the guy that just might be able to help you with your little...situation. If you're willing to accept it." Don Patch was acting so confident that he was starting to buy it himself, and Tails was starting to look a tad more hopeful.

"Well, I guess I could use a little-"

"GREAT!" Don Patch cheered, leaning forward. "Now then, I've fought him before, and if there's one thing you should know, it's..."

Don Patch began whispering various details into Tails' ear, the fox's ears quivering all the while. While some of it had been gathered from Don Patch's former scuffle with Victor, just as much of it, if not more, was completely made up. He didn't expect the fox boy to figure that out though; his role as a simple distraction was more than enough for him to live out his usefulness to Don Patch. Fortunately for him, Tails was more than naive enough to listen to what he had to say.

**-Later-**

The main hall was where meals were usually conducted; the large room was lined with rather long tables, with stained glass windows on both sides of the room. On one end was the entrances to the room, while the other end had a few tables reserved for higher ranking officials. The Lunar Guildmaster had a seat at the very top of the table, though this time, his seats were accompanied by similar ones for the leaders of the Solar Faction and Twilight Society; the Twilight Monarch and Solar Master. The Induction Ceremony was held in the main hall as well.

Silver had said that he wanted this to go by without a problem...but Chopper could easily tell that having the Solar Faction and the Twilight Society to perform their induction ceremonies here would cause a problem. Since the war between the Solar Faction and the previous Twilight Society, they have been bitter rivals to each other. However, the Guildmaster simply replied with, "It was the Solar Master's request. They need to patch things up regardless; and what better way to do it than having their induction ceremonies together? Besides, I think it will help with the Lunar Guild's reputation."

Chopper had simply agreed with his superior, but was still quite anxious of the situation; he only hoped that they would get lucky...

-**Even Later-**

The ceremony soon began; once it had, the main hall became absolutely packed. Fortunately, there was just enough room for everyone in the 3 facilities. Sitting at the leader's table was the Lunar Guildmaster, Silver, with the two figures he had with him during the meeting on the zepplin. Alongside him was the Solar Master, a brown-haired boy in a black, red, and yellow outfit underneath his red cloak. The Twilight Monarch also had a spot; however, he had yet to arrive.

Down at the tables, Victor was busy scanning the crowds for his 2 opponents. Since they were both so short, he had a bit of difficulty. In a different table, Don Patch eagerly awaited for his chance to strike, folding his hands together and chuckling to himself evilly. At yet another table, Tails had been diligently going over the information Don Patch supplied him with, trying his best to muster what courage he could in preparation for the battle.

Once everyone was seated, the Solar Master stood up, clearing his throat and prompting the room to fall silent. "Welcome everyone, to Lunar Hill! I am Solar Master Sora. First off, I would like to thank Guildmaster Silver for being so generous as to let us stay here for the ceremony." The hedgehog managed an inward smile to himself as Sora looked out at one of the stained glass windows. "I have heard that Lunar Hill gets beautiful at night...anyway, since the Twilight Monarch has had a different arrangement, he might be a little late. So, we shall start with the feast. Then, we will move on to the ceremony!"

With this comment, a mob of servants began bringing out platters of food and setting them on the table. Victor looked the selection over, taking a modest amount; he needed to be in shape for his fight. "...and then they're gonna put us in teams of three."

Victor looked up from a loaf of bread and glanced at the source of the voice, a few recruits talking amongst themselves. "Team of three..." he mused to himself, leaning towards the conversing figures. "What're you talking about? Teams of three?"

The recruits glanced at Victor, one of them explaining, "All new recruits are placed on teams of three. A captain'll oversee their progress in the meantime."

Victor blinked at this, leaning back in his seat and looking at the table. Teams of three recruits...though it was a bit unlikely, that still put him at a chance of being put on the same team as Don Patch or that Tails person. The dragon sighed irritably and leaned back, hoping he might get lucky.

The dragon's train of thought as abruptly interrupted when something jabbed him in the eye. "Gah! The hell?"

He ripped the paper object out of his eye, noticing it as a paper airplane, the top bearing a sticker with Don Patch's face on it. He tored the sticker off, prompting several extremely tiny people to jump out and off of the plane, screaming to "abandon ship". On the nose was even a group of trumpet players tooting their horns, though they were quickly flicked off in irritation by Victor.

The dragon unfolded the paper, examining the contents. "We start this in five minutes. Come to the courtyard. P.S., pay your respects for the captain of this ship, for being the only one to-"

Victor crumpled up the page before he could even think of reading the rest of the useless information, standing up with a confident smirk. He turned around and walked out of the hall, too busy to notice he had attracted the attention of a gray-furred wolf, who glanced at the dragon through a scarred, yellow eye.


	7. Free For All

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 7-Free For All: Victor vs. Don Patch vs. Tails

Upon entering the Lunar Courtyard, the field for their fight, Victor realized that the Solar Master had been right about one thing; Lunar Hill was nice during the day, but at night, the view was breathtaking. Fireflies swarmed all over the area in even greater density, and the sky was dotted with stars, casting the area in a completely natural, almost ethereal glow. Victor could make out a few constellations in the sky, as well as a few stars he didn't even know existed. NOW he knew that he should have brought a camera. "So, you actually managed to show up, eh?"

Victor's attention was torn from his scenic surrounding to the source of the voice; Don Patch, leaning against a nearby column, tossing about a coin in his hand, a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. "I was worried for a sec' you weren't gonna arrive."

The dragon glared at Don Patch for a second. "Is...that really necessary?" Victor's attention was torn once again to the next voice; Tails, who was currently sitting on the side of a fountain, feet dangling off the side, and staring up at the sky somewhat nonchalantly.

"No, it's not," Victor responded flatly, prompting Don Patch to turn to him with a whine.

"Yes it waaaaaas! I wanted a cool appearance!" the orange blob shouted, only to be interrupted when Victor removed his blade and pointed it at Don Patch's nose.

Tails blinked upon seeing the weapon, hopping from his perch. "W-wait a minute, swinging around big pointy objects isn't necessary either..."

"Sure it is," Victor retorted, swinging it to point at Tails and causing the fox to flinch. "Don't worry, I'm merciful enough not to go around slaughtering fellow soldiers."

"B-but..." Tails stammered, only for Victor to shoot him a glare that said he wasn't going to get a different response. He shivered and looked down. "F-fine..."

Don Patch smirked, tossing his toothpick to the side. "Now then, are we gonna get this show on the road or not?"

**-Meanwhile-**

The ceremony had started about an hour and a half ago, and the Twilight Monarch had yet to arrive; it was understandable that people were starting to get worried. Chopper sat at the captain's table, glancing around and noticing a messenger speaking with Silver and Sora; he knew that something bad would happen, just not something like THIS. The reindeer's train of thought was interrupted when he heard his walkie talkie beeping. Chopper excused himself from the table to get away from the bustle and answered. "Yes?"

"We have a bit of a problem. We are requesting your service immediately."

Chopper raised an eyebrow in confusion and worry, asking nervously, "What is it? Does it have something to do with..."

"We're not sure, but it's a pretty good guess by now. Come to the gates immediately."

The reindeer stowed his walkie-talk away, and proceeded to make tracks for the castle gates. If they needed him, it had to be a major medical emergency.

**-Meanwhile-**

Before Victor could make a retort, Don Patch had grabbed the coin he was tossing about earlier and hurled it at Victor, who whirled around in shock. "Dammit!"

He quickly managed to grab the coin in his hand, then flung it back at Don Patch, who avoided by leaping upwards, perching himself on the column. "Awh man! That was supposed to kill you!"

"That's if you drop a penny down the side of the Empire State Building," Tails mumbled flatly, Victor whirling around to the fox; he had by this pointed clenched a fist and placed his other hand on his wrist, causing his glove to glow for a moment and transform into a boxing glove. Victor blinked, just in time for the boxing glove to shoot outwards; the dragon barely managed to duck under the attack, though Don Patch was still smacked in the face, smashing him into a wall. "Oops! S-sorry Don Patch!"

"You'd better be sorry!" the orange blob muffled as the glove was retracted via some sort of retractable chain, dropping Don Patch to the ground. He looked up slightly, just in time to notice Victor dashing towards him. He blinked in shock, then quickly leaped into the air, stomping on Victor's head and kicking off, landing next to Tails.

"Ggh...damn pest," Victor growled, turning around towards the duo. He was, however, interrupted when he noticed Don Patch tilting a cap on his head, a baseball glove on one of his hands. "The hell?"

"And heeeeeeere's the pitch," Don Patch called, winding up and flinging something rather hastily towards Victor. The dragon's eyes widened, prompting him to quickly hold his hand up to catch the incoming orb. He grunted lowly from the force exerted, then slowly looked down at what exactly it was he caught; an apple.

The dragon narrowed his gaze. "Here's your damn pitch," he snarled, quickly throwing the apple back towards Don Patch. The orange blob's eyes widened, and he quickly leaped out of the way, resulting in the apple instead smashing into Tails' face, knocking him toppling backwards at a high speed before hitting the wall. "Whoops," Victor mumbled flatly with a slight sweatdrop.

Tails abruptly sat back up, the apple now sticking partially out of his mouth; the fox grabbed at his throat with a panicked expression. "Oh no!" Don Patch shouted, abruptly leaping to the fox's side. "You're choking! Here, lemme get that out for you!"

With this comment, the orange blob proceeded to smack Tails in the back of the head with a paddle, sending the apple flying out of his mouth and hitting the column behind Victor. The dragon blinked slightly as Don Patch bent down to Tails' side and remarked in a scolding, motherly tone, "How many times have I told you to chew your food before you swallow?"

The fox only groaned in response, curled up slightly and grabbing the back of his head, murmuring, "Ow...that hurt..."

"You shouldn't have tried to swallow it whole!" Don Patch responded, folding his arms. "Do we have to go back to semi-solid foods?"

Tails looked up with a pained expression. "Wha...?"

The fox was interrupted when Don Patch placed a small bowl in front of him, the contents consisting of some sort of green, mushy substance. "There! Now then, I want to see all of it gone!"

Victor had half a mind to step in, but could only stare in stupefication as Don Patch tried to shove a spoon of the suspicious substance down Tails' throat. "We're kinda in the middle of a fight, you know!"

"And that doesn't excuse my growing baby boy from eating his vegetables!" the orange blob responded, prompting Tails to glance at him blankly.

"What the HECK are you talking about?" he mumbled blankly, only to be interrupted when Don Patch shoved the spoon into his mouth.

"That's a good boy! Now I expect to see it all gone by the time I get back!" Don Patch exclaimed, leaving Tails to try and remove the spoon from his throat. "Now then-" the orange blob continued, turning around to Victor, only to be kicked in the face and sent spiraling into another column.

The dragon lowered his foot as Don Patch stood up, wiping the bits of dust and rubble off of him. "Tch, you're more troublesome than I thought," Don Patch remarked, glancing at Victor with a wide smirk. "Unfortunately for you, I'm just getting started!" A low, yellow aura began encompassing his body, prompting Victor to take a momentary step back. "Now...I'm going to show you what a real attack looks like!"

A bright flash of light emanated from Don Patch's body, forcing Victor to cover his eyes to avoid being blinded. He looked back with a grunt, only for his jaw to drop slightly. "What the..."

Instead of actually unleashing an attack, Don Patch had balanced on the tips of his toes, holding two fingers out and puckering his lips. "Prukogi...Prukogi...Prukogi...Prukogi..."

Victor stared rather blankly at the scene, watching as Don Patch began flapping his hands about, charging towards Victor. "Imma bird! Imma bird! TRY TO GUESS WHAT I-"

The orange blob came within striking distance of Victor, who stepped to the side and delivered a stomp to Don Patch's head, slamming him into the ground. He continued to put pressure on the blob's body, mumbling, "This...is where I crush you like the insolent bug you are."

A low grunt came from Don Patch. "Heh...you think you've won? I have yet to show you my true power!"

With this comment, another faint aura began gathering around Don Patch. Victor furrowed his brow and grumbled, "If this is some other retarded shit then don't try it, I'm not gonna fall for it."

"But this is no ordinary retarded shit," Don Patch remarked, his eyes widening. "This is my transformation ability!"

Victor blinked in surprise, Don Patch suddenly overpowering Victor and leaping into the air. He tucked in his limbs and began spinning around, only to abruptly stop in midair; Don Patch now resembled a four-pointed ninja star. "Don Patch Shuriken Attack!"

The orange blob flew towards Victor at a high speed; the dragon reached for his sword, however, it was abruptly knocked out of his grip when Don Patch came whizzing by, impacting the weapon and slicing at Victor's shoulder. The dragon's eyes widened with a grunt as Don Patch continued to dash about him, shrieking madly, "You like that, huh? Huh? I thought as much, now you're going to die, you overgrown mutant gecko!"

Don Patch continued to laugh maniacally, unaware of a certain change in scenery below. "Flick."

Suddenly, a very large gloved hand emerged from the ground behind Victor; as soon as Don Patch came within view, the hand made a flicking motion with its index finger, plowing into Don Patch and sending him rocketing into the air. "WAAAAAHHHHH!"

A faint blinking sound was heard as Don Patch vanished from view, prompting Victor to slowly open his eyes. "Are you alright?"

The dragon looked around to the source of the voice; Tails, who had by now taken the spoon from his mouth and lowered his faintly glowing hand. Victor glanced at said glove, and mumbled, "Was that...you?" The fox nodded. "How did you do that? And that thing with the boxing glove earlier?"

"Weeeellll..." Tails mumbled, looking away with a faint blush and rubbing the back of his head. "It's nothing really, just one of my inventions. I can summon several different technological weapons from my glove via some special form of Chaos Control. It's not really much for someone with an intelligence quotient of 300."

A few moments passed in silence, Victor staring at Tails. "So...you're a nerd."

"Not what I meant..." the fox mumbled, looking away with an annoyed expression.

Tails glanced back at Victor, mumbling, "To be honest, I was fairly sure I was supposed to be helping that Don Patch guy, but I don't really think of slapping apples out of my mouth or force-feeding me goop as actions an ally would do."

Victor blinked in surprise. "Wait, what? You weren't supposed to be helping him, this was a free-for-all." The dragon stared at Tails as the fox gave him back at rather confused expression. "Of course...he probably tricked you into thinking I'M the bad guy..." he sighed, turning around and folding his arms.

"Well, that's not so much the case now, is it?" Tails asked, blinking. "He's gone for now, we should probably get back to the Induction Ceremony before anyone notices we're missing and we get in trouble."

Victor nodded in agreement, the duo walking back towards the entrance to the castle.

**-Meanwhile-**

Chopper had soon arrived at the castle gates, having taken on his four-legged form to arrive there quicker. He quickly noticed a group of medics crowded around something, prompting the reindeer to revert back to his normal child-like form and approach. "Excuse me! Head doctor coming through!"

Everyone turned to Chopper, prompting the crowd to part slightly; Chopper blinked in shock upon noticing a messenger laying on the ground, several rather nasty wounds adorning his body. "What happened?"

"According to the guards he arrived in town like this," one of the medics responded. "He appears to be from the Twilight Society, and he bore a message that he said must reach Lunar Guildmaster Silver immediately!"

With this comment, the medic surrendered what looked like a tape recorder to Chopper. The reindeer looked it over and finally nodded, glancing at the medics and saying, "I'll make sure this reaches Silver. Get this guy to the medical wing, stat!"

The medics nodded, two returning from the castle with a stretcher and loading the wounded messenger onto it. They dashed off, Chopper taking the tape recorder in his mouth and shifting back to his quadruped form, dashing off towards the main hall with an urgent expression; if that messenger was from the Twilight Society, then this must've had something to do with the Twilight Monarch's late appearance...


	8. The Army of Darkness

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 8-The Army of Darkness

Victor and Tails continued their trek towards the hall, both remaining silent. The silence was broken when Victor noticed a light slurping sound; he glanced to the side, to find that Tails had been slurping from the bowl of substance that Don Patch had been trying to force-feed him earlier. The dragon blinked. "What...the hell are you doing?"

Tails lowered the bowl and glanced at Victor. "Eating?"

"Do you even know what that is?" the dragon mumbled, blinking.

Tails shrugged. "From the taste, I've deduced it to be some blend of fruits and..." He paused, scooping some on his finger and suckling it off. "...I think that's chicken."

Victor made a face to show his unease with that combination. "And you're EATING it?"

"It's not that bad..." the fox responded somewhat defensively.

"I'm sure there's something else that can be considered food back in the main hall."

"I didn't want this to go to waste."

Victor was prepared to make an angry retort, but paused, coming to a halt and prompting Tails to do so as well, glancing at the dragon in curiosity. He furrowed his brow, nothing but a faint breeze blowing through the area. It was...unnatural. "Victor? What's wrong?" Tails asked somewhat worriedly.

When the dragon didn't respond, a voice, echoing from nowhere, answered for him. "He seems to have noticed my presence. Impressive, I'll give him that."

Victor scowled. "Alright, who's there? How long've you been here?"

"The entire time," the voice responded, Tails looking around feverishly to find the source. "I must say...your fight with that orange blob was almost painful to watch. Your battle style is so flawed."

Victor let out a rather annoyed growl, clenching his fists and shouting, "Who are you to judge the way I fight? It's good the way it is!"

"Hmph." The voice didn't sound very impressed. "You actually believe that you could make it as a soldier with your power? Laughable."

The dragon gritted his teeth in anger, the former rage that had been supressed after beating Don Patch silly returning. The image of the orange blob, however, caused Victor to blink, suddenly straightening himself back out. "You can't fool me," the dragon uttered with a frown. "Stop being a sore loser and come out here."

Tails blinked, catching on to the dragon's assumption. He glanced around at the remains of the fountain, where the orange blob's feet were still sticking out limply, sprayed with water from the destroyed structure. "Uh...Victor?" the kit mumbled somewhat nervously.

"Not now, I'm busy," Victor grumbled, waving a hand about.

"But...uh..." Tails stammered, still looking around for the source.

The voice let out what sounded like a very low chuckle from Victor's comment, then remarked, "You wish for me to show myself? Very well then. I will not be responsible for what happens."

Suddenly, the unnatural wind from before began kicking up, sending a whirlwind flying outwards that sent all of the fireflies off course, darkening the area. A figure appeared amidst the sudden increase in darkness, his black coat billowing in the wind. The figure looked up; a gray furred wolf, with a rather nasty scar over his left, yellow eye, which shone in stark contrast to his other, reddish brown eye. "I don't believe we've met," the wolf uttered, looking at the duo as they looked up slightly. "My name is Raibaru."

**-Meanwhile-**

It had now been two hours since the Induction Ceremony had started, and the crowd was growing a tad restless. Sora and Silver were doing their utmost best to keep the crowd under control, the black-haired teen letting out a sigh and rubbing the back of his head. The white-furred dragon remained stoic, only for his long, pointed ears to quiver once Chopper began approaching, panting slightly. "Chopper?" the dragon remarked, turning towards him. "You look panicked, what's the matter?"

The reindeer looked up slightly, still panting. "Shu-...Commander Shuurai..." He straightened himself out, holding up the tape recorder. "I have an urgent message for Guildmaster Silver!"

The dragon, Shuurai, furrowed his brow in curiosity. "Oh? Urgent, you say?"

The black-haired teen glanced at Silver, murmuring, "Hey, uh, Guildmaster...Chopper's got an important message."

The hedgehog cast him a momentary glance, then murmured, "Shikamaru, please, I'm a tad busy right now..."

Chopper stepped forward. "B-but it involves the Twilight Monarch!"

This immediately caught the trio's attention, all three of them turning to Chopper. "Well, that changes everything," Shuurai remarked with a surprised expression.

"Let's hear it, Chopper!" Silver remarked, turning towards the reindeer.

Chopper proceeded to snap on the recorder. "This message is for the Lunar Guildmaster and his officials' ears only. If anyone else finds this message, deliver it to Lunar Guildmaster Silver immediately."

"This voice...it sounds familiar," the teen, Shikamaru, remarked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"This is of the utmost importance and must reach its predetermined course. This is the Twilight Monarch Gaara, and I have valuable information regarding the Army of Darkness..."

**-Meanwhile-**

"Heh, fancy show you put on there," Victor remarked with a smirk, now feeling a tad more confident now that his opponent had made himself known. "But doing a little wind trick won't help your case!"

Raibaru stared back with a rather glazed expression, his expression unsettling Tails. "It is no show...I'm not doing this to show off. In fact, gaining respect is the least of my worries." The wolf had nonchalantly waved one of his hands about. "If you wish to test me, then so be it. However, I will not hold back."

Victor smiled confidently. "You took the words right out of my mouth!"

Before Tails could so much as interject, Victor had lunged at Raibaru, blade drawn. He leaped into the air with a roar, attempting to smash into Raibaru. However, right before impact, the wolf abruptly vanished. "What the?"

Victor abruptly landed back on his feet, Raibaru appearing behind him with a backwards blur effect; though Victor seemed rather confused, Tails was able to see it perfectly. Raibaru had actually moved so fast that he momentarily disappeared from view. "Stand still!" Victor shouted, lunging towards Raibaru once again and trying to slice at him.

The wolf avoided all of the incoming attacks, seemingly warping from one area to the next with ease, the only things giving away his intense speed being the flicker of his cloak and the gusts of wind that sprouted from each step he took. "You can't even get close to me..." Raibaru uttered, appearing several feet away from a now slightly panting Victor. "This fight will be over before it even begins."

Victor whirled around to Raibaru's location, roaring angrily, "Cliches won't scare me! I was just a little slow!"

"And that is your limit..." Raibaru mused bluntly, closing his eyes.

Victor let out another enraged roar, dashing forward, gripping his blade with both hands. "Damn mutt!"

He swung his blade towards Raibaru, who once again avoided, this time appearing next to Victor, who blinked slightly. With one speedy motion, Raibaru had spun around, knocking Victor off of his feet before gripping onto the katana strapped to his waist. Tails' eyes widened in shock as the wolf drew his weapon, elbowing Victor in the back in the process and sending the dragon toppling forward, smashing into a pillar. "Victor!"

The dragon slowly stood back up with a growl, looking up as Raibaru turned towards Victor, his katana gleaming faintly in the moonlight. "Had enough?"

"Tch..." the dragon snarled, standing back up and gripping his weapon. "Hell no!"

Raibaru closed his eyes with a sigh. "Very well then...it appears I'm going to have to kill you."

**-Meanwhile-**

Chopper and the others glanced at each other with a shocked expression, though Shikamaru seemed decidedly less emotional than the other three. "The...Army of Darkness...?"

Silver turned back towards the tape recorder and resumed the playback. "I have been searching for 1 month now to find traces leading to proof of the rumors going about recently. At first, I found nothing; however, by a stroke of luck, I happened on an abandoned tower in Twilight Plains that I later saw shadowy figures entering and leaving. I believed that this was of great importance, so I infiltrated it. I found many documents and records, detailing the founding of a force known as the Army of Darkness.

"The papers held maps of the surrounding area, and attack plans that I couldn't decipher. There were also several names, many of which were Twilight Society soldiers; they must be abduction records. To what end that this organization is planning, I know not; however, it clearly involves the members of the Celestial Alliance. Already, they are planning to infiltrate the Solar Castle...I know not whether they have assaulted, but if they have, then I have no doubt that they have Solar Castle hostage. Be wary of the Solar Master, he may very well be in disguise..."

The foursome had fallen silent, the recording coming to an end. "What should we do, Guildmaster...?" Chopper asked with a worried expression.

Silver looked down in thought, grunting lowly. "We don't know when this Solar Castle attack will take place," Shikamaru commented. "Though it seems unlikely that something like that would slip under our radars, we still need to be on our guard."

"Yes," Silver nodded, looking up at the trio. "I want to make sure that the Solar Master, or whoever it is, doesn't make any suspicious moves," the hedgehog began, talking quietly. "If he does, then I want you to alert everyone that we have an intruder. If so, then the Solar soldiers may be in disguise too." He glanced around. "Chopper, Shikamaru, go and alert the guards of this development. Shuurai, stay here to help me keep an eye on 'Sora'."

The furry dragon nodded, Chopper and Shikamaru departing to undergo their recent mission.

**-Meanwhile-**

Several more shouts were heard as Victor attempted to attack Raibaru, the wolf expertly avoiding each strike, now occasionally flicking his blade towards Victor with a single hand. Their weapons would occasionally collide with a faint clang sound, though on more than one occasion, it would slice at Victor's body, leaving a faint scratch. "Ggh!"

"Someone like you doesn't even deserve to be a soldier," Raibaru remarked, now slowing down his movements to accentuate the slowly exhausting Victor, now avoiding his sloppy attacks with much more ease. "If it weren't for the fact that the Lunar Guild has such low expectations, you would never had made it into the ranks," Raibaru continued, now taking several more deliberate slices and sending several splashes of blood flying from Victor's body.

"Shut...the...hell...up...!" Victor roared, lunging towards Raibaru with another roar, preparing a downwards slash.

"Priority Step." Raibaru suddenly dashed right past Victor, drawing his weapon in the process and slicing at Victor. The dragon's eyes widened as some blood spewed form his chest, the area of impact, Victor hitting his knees and lowering his head with a grunt.

"Victor!" Tails shouted in a panic, dropping the bowl he had been eating from.

Raibaru turned around towards Victor, the dragon looking around at him with an enraged expression. "Look at you...on your knees. It's undignified." Raibaru walked towards Victor, kicking him in the back and knocking Victor onto his front. "To avoid disgracing you any further, I'm going to finish you once and for all..."

The wolf lifted his blade, Victor glancing up at him with a slight grunt. Tails' slightly teary eyes widened in horror, the kit clenching them shut as impact was made, a metallic "clang" resounding from all around. It took the fox a moment to remember, however, that the "clang" effect was steel-on-steel impact. He hastily looked up, finding that someone had blocked the attack; a familiar, short, orange blob wearing samurai armor and wielding what looked to be a carving fork to block Raibaru's strike. "Hm...?" the wolf mused with a slightly surprised expression.

"Don Patch?" Tails gasped, Victor looking up with a slight grunt.

"I cannot let you do that!" the orange blob shouted, pronouncing it with a thick and deep Japanese accent.

In response to this, Raibaru flung Don Patch to the side, slicing off his armor and knocking the "weapon" out of his hands. The orange blob landed on his feet, skidding back slightly and looking up with a cocky smirk. "If anyone's gonna kick that lizard's ass, it's gonna be me!"

Victor let out another grunt, Raibaru now turning towards Don Patch. "You..."

"It seems that the fool has finally woken up..." Raibaru mumbled in slight irritation, gripping his katana slightly.

Don Patch continued to smirk confidently, giving a thumbs up and calling, "Yeah, but this fool ain't going down that easy!"

Raibaru fell silent, then closed his eyes, lifting a hand in preparation. "Bring it."

The duo stared at each other for a moment, Don Patch glancing at Tails. "Well, are you gonna help me or not?"

"Wh-wha?" the fox mumbled in confusion, blinking. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Don Patch let out a horrified gasp. "Wh-what? You'd turn your back on me after all we've been through?" Adoptoing his female persona, Don Patch knelt on the ground, tears pouring from his eyes and he covered his mouth. "I'm so hurt..."

Raibaru seemed indifferent to Don Patch's display. "N-no, it's just..." Tails stammered, blinking in confusion. "How did you recover so quickly?"

"Oh that," Don Patch remarked, standing up and giving Tails a toothy smirk; well, with some of his teeth now missing, no doubt from Victor's thrashing. "I'm used to it."

Raibaru retained an indifferent expression, staring at Don Patch, then both of them. "Hmph. Two on one...? Perhaps you two will offer a bit more resistance than your friend."

Don Patch smirked, gripping his hands and crouching slightly. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me!"

Tails pursed his lips together, suppressing a gulp as the trio stared off, another slight gust being picked up as some of the fireflies returned to the area, brightening it up just a bit.

**-Meanwhile-**

Back in the main hall, the crowd was becoming steadily more impatient, several soldiers coming by to ask about when the ceremony would begin. Shuurai glanced down at Silver, murmuring, "Sir, perhaps it would be wise to begin the ceremony, with or without the Twilight Monarch, to avoid a riot, as unlikely as that sounds..."

Silver glanced at Shuurai for a moment, Sora suddenly glancing at the duo and saying, "That sounds like a really good idea, actually."

With this comment, Sora stood up, clearing his throat and getting just about everyone's attentions. "Everyone, it is about time for us to begin the Induction Ceremony! When your name is called, please come to the front." He glanced at Silver, reaching next to the chair and pulling out a scepter, the top emblazoned with a gem resembling the sun in appearance; in the interior was a crescent moon, a star in the middle of the duo. "Since Guildmaster Silver was so kind to allow us to come, I'll let him do the honors."

Silver glanced at Sora with a surprised expression, Shuurai doing the same as the boy surrendered the scepter to the hedgehog. Though curiosity overcame him for a moment, it was beaten out by excitement over the opportunity granted to him. The hedgehog nodded, stepping up to the front and calling out the first name. While Silver was interrupted by his duty, he didn't notice Sora slip away from the table; the only one who did was Shuurai, who narrowed his gaze with a thoughtful hum.

The boy proceeded to wander about the castle, seemingly aimlessly, until he came to a rather large stairwell, a pair of large double doors at the top, depicting a stained glass image of a crescent moon against a blue background. The two soldiers stationed there glanced at him and gave a salute. "Solar Master Sora, what're-"

Both were interrupted when Sora lifted up his hands; suddenly, several shadowy whips extended from his sleeves, ensnaring around the soldiers and leaving them unable to move. Both began panicking and squirming about, grasping at their neck and trying to claw the scaly appendages away. The hissing whips continued to strangle the soldiers until both fell limp, Sora dropping them both to the ground. "That's better."

He proceeded to step up the stairwell, pushing open the doors and allowing him access into a new, dimly lit room. The only source of light came from the middle of the room, which held a very large sphere of light surrounded by a glass casing. Sora began stepping into the room, smirking. "You know, curiosity killed the cat," came a rather gruff voice from nearby, Sora stopping as a figure emerged from a nearby pillar. "It'll also get you into a lot of trouble too."

Sora glanced around at this, soon noticing the source of the voice as that of Chopper, who had taken on his muscular, humanoid form. "Oh, don't worry, I know exactly what's in here," the Solar Master responded, his voice suddenly becoming uncharacteristically silky and unwelcoming. "So technically, it's not curiosity. Just duty."

Chopper turned to face the boy, narrowing his gaze. "Who are you...?" he mumbled with an intimidating tone. "You're not the Solar Master."

Sora fell silent, then began laughing, his voice now much unlike that of the boy the figure was formerly attempting to masquerade as. "Well, it looks like someone knows their facts," the disguised figure commented. "But, you don't have them all. If you did, you would be letting me go about my business."

"It doesn't matter if I know all of my facts," Chopper mumbled with a serious expression, narrowing his gaze. "If you are planning on taking the Lunar Essence, then forget it!"

The imposter laughed again, the now coarse laugh completely contradicting his current, young appearance. "I told you...I'm doing my duty. You'd best not stand in my way..."

With this comment, a puff of smoke surrounded the figure, shrouding his appearance. The smoke continued for a moment before finally fading, allowing the figure's true appearance to come into view; a tall human with pasty, gray skin, long black hair, and amber eyes with slitted pupils, not unlike that of a snake. He wore a rather bland, gray garb with black pants and a black undershirt, as well as a thick, purple rope around his waist, tied in a sizeable knot behind him. "It's been a while..." the figure mumbled in a hissing voice, smirking. "...hasn't it, Chopper...?"


	9. Rogue Ninja, Orochimaru

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 9-Rouge Ninja, Orochimaru

Don Patch charged towards Raibaru with a roar, reaching behind him. "Now, feel the wrath of my Don Patch Hammer!"

The orange blob proceeded to pull out the same leek he had pulled against Victor, Raibaru blinking slightly. "That's...what is that?" Tails stammered in confusion.

"Hmph...your idiotic antics won't work on me," Raibaru mumbled, quickly sidestepping Don Patch's frantic swing, then slicing him in the back, sending the orange blob crashing into a stone column.

The wolf then tured towards Tails, who pointed his fist at the wolf, summoning his spring-loaded boxing glove. He shot it towards Raibaru, who proceeded to tilt his head to the side, resulting in the glove flying mere inches from his face. The fox's eyes widened in shock. "He's...so fast..."

Before Tails could gather up his senses, Raibaru had dashed towards him; the fox quickly tried to curl his tails in front of him to act as a makeshift barrier, however, Raibaru still sent him flying backwards with a kick, sending Tails crashing into a wall. Raibaru straightened himself out, not even flinching when Don Patch leaped from behind, roaring and lifting up one of the stone columns scattered around the courtyard. "Time to rock and roll!"

Raibaru turned around, abruptly vanishing as Don Patch smashed the ground in front of him with the column. He blinked in shock, Raibaru appearing behind him and uttering, "You're so slow..."

With a straight kick, Don Patch was hurled into the wall above Tails, the fox slowly trying to stagger to his feet, only to be knocked down when Don Patch slid from the impact area, landing on top of the fox. Both slowly tried to stand up, Raibaru stepping forward and murmuring, "Even with the both of you competing against me, you'll never win. I am too fast, and too powerful for the likes of you."

Both Don Patch and Tails looke dup slightly, grunting as Raibaru gripped his katana. Before he could get much further, however, something abruptly coiled around his body. The wolf blinked with mild surprise. "Huh?"

He looked around slightly, noticing Victor very slowly staggering back to his feet, the other end of his grappling hook in hand. "I'm...not done with you yet..." the dragon growled, shivering slightly.

Raibaru narrowed his gaze, Tails blinking. "Now's our chance...!"

"Right!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, leaping up and abruptly spinning around, returning to shuriken form. Raibaru glanced at the orange blob as Tails grabbed a hold of Don Patch, twisting his body about and abruptly spinning around in place, becoming a slight blur.

"What are they...?" Raibaru mumbled lowly, looking down at the rope coiled around him.

"Don Patch Rhythmic Shuriken!" With this call, Tails abruptly flung Don Patch towards Raibaru, the orange blob becoming a rotating blur as he shot towards their opponent at a high speed, surrounded by a swirling gust.

Raibaru growled slightly, abruptly managing to shift his katana around enough so that it was pointed upwards, trying to block the attack. Everything seemed to travel in slow motion as all of the combatants watched Don Patch's form shift to the side, its pointed form managing to twist right past the katana. Raibaru's eyes widened as Don Patch's bladed form abruptly cut at the wolf's side, leaving a sizeable gash and sending blood spraying out. "Ggh!"

The rope coiling around Raibaru began loosening from Don Patch's cut, the wolf staggering backwards slightly as Don Patch changed back to normal, only to abruptly slam into Victor, knocking both to the ground. Tails, meanwhile, staggered about from the force exerted, mumbling lowly, "Ungh...dizzy..."

Tails collapsed onto his back, Raibaru gripping at his wound with a growl, panting slightly as blood continued to seep from it in rather copious amounts. "D-damn it...let my guard down..." the wolf growled, slowly stepping back, only to vanish abruptly in a similar fashion to the way he appeared. All of the combatants fell unconscious at this, none of them noticing a figure stepping towards them from nearby, a very faint cloud-like substance shrouded around them.

**-Meanwhile-**

The air seemed to have gotten much thicker once the man's disguise was dropped, Chopper grunting lowly as the man's surprisingly lengthy tongue lapped at the side of his mouth. "I should've known...Orochimaru..."

The man identified as Orochimaru chuckled lowly, retracting his tongue. "So, you haven't forgotten my name, I'm so flattered."

"How could I possibly forget what you did?" the reindeer barked back angrily, clenching his fists.

Orochimaru chuckled again, the images of the snake-like ninja and a swordsman dueling going back through Chopper's mind like lightning. "So easy to hold a grudge...and to think you used to be so innocent."

Chopper growled yet again, lowering his gaze slightly. "You must be one of them...the Army of Darkness..."

The ninja chuckled again, shifting his body to the side slightly. "Well well, we DO have our facts straight. I could spend time pondering how you figured that out so fast, but unfortunately, it won't matter regardless."

Orochimaru turned around to the large glass orb, still smirking evilly. Chopper had began slowly reaching for the pack on his back. "The Lunar Essence...the Lunar Guild's pride and joy, an artifact of unimagineable power...think of how it could be used. Forcing the entire Celestial Alliance to bow to us. Provided the other two Essences are in our grasp as well..."

Suddenly, Orochimaru swung around, sending a bladed object flying towards Chopper. The reindeer had very little time to react, and the kunai dug into his hand, sending the walkie talkie he had been reaching for sliding across the ground. It finally stopped in front of Orochimaru, who stepped on it forcefully, smashing it to pieces. "...and you don't decide to meddle."

"You're a fool to think I'd just stand by and let you take the Lunar Essence!" Chopper shouted, ripping the kunai out of his hand and charging forward.

Orochimaru closed his eyes, still smiling. "Then it's a good thing I anticipated you'd try and stop me."

The ninja abruptly ducked underneath chopper's incoming punch, making a hand sign underneath. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

With a punching motion, Orochimaru suddenly sent several scaly extensions flying from his sleeves, slamming into Chopper's body and lifting him into the air; a closer look revealed that it was a crowd of snakes, repeatedly hissing and slithering about. Chopper's eyes widened as Orochimaru smirked, standing back up. "Now that that's out of the way...I can focus on getting what I came here for."

With this comment, the man turned towards the large glass orb, Chopper's eyes widening in shock. "Optic Spear!"

Suddenly, a blast of energy emerged from the nearby doorway, slicing right through the snakes binding Chopper and sending him toppling to the ground, the snakes literally burning away. Orochimaru blinked, his smile fading as he turned towards the source of the attack. "What?"

Chopper let out a slight grunt, looking around and quickly noticing the source of the attack; Shuurai, his blade glowing a bright yellow. "Sorry I'm late," the furry dragon mused, narrowing his gaze slightly.

"Shuurai..." Chopper grunted lowly, looking up as Orochimaru turned to him.

"Hm...well well. If it isn't Silver's trusted little hybrid-thing," the ninja remarked, smiling slightly. "Only one of your kind, if I'm not mistaken."

Shuurai narrowed his gaze slightly, his former friendly expression now stern and authorative. "I have a beautiful wife and son you know, I'm far from alone."

"Do you even KNOW what you're called?" Orochimaru asked with a slight shrug, chuckling to himself.

"Yes, I do." With this comment, Shuurai lifted his blade, pointing it at Orochimaru. "I am second in command of the Lunar Guild. Optic Flash!"

Another blast of light was abruptly shot from the hilt of Shuurai's weapon, Orochimaru blinking as the attack sailed into his shoulder, generating a slight explosion behind, where the attack impacted with the floor. Suddenly, Orochimaru's body fell apart, taking the form of what appeared to be mud. Shuurai narrowed his gaze slightly, uttering, "A clone..."

Suddenly, Orochimaru emerged from behind, opening his mouth and suddenly extending what appeared to be a blade from his tongue. Smirking wickedly, he went to slam the weapon down onto Shuurai's head, only to halt, blinking. "Guh...?"

"Shuurai..." Chopper looked up slightly to the source of the voice; standing on the edge of one of the rafters was Shikamaru, in the midst of a hand sign. A shadow could be seen connecting him and Orochimaru along the ground, locking the duo in place. "I've got him in my Shadow Possession, bind him!"

The furry dragon nodded, glancing at Orochimaru, who continued to smirk wickedly. Only he and Chopper noticed the mud clone from before reforming itself, slinging what looked to be several mud projectiles toward Shikamaru. "Look out, the clone!"

Shikamaru looked around, the attacks impacting him and halting his jutsu, also knocking him from his perch and freeing Orochimaru. The ninja dove towards Shuurai blade first, the dragon growling and taking a slight step back. "Prism Cage!"

He motioned forward, a triangle of light suddenly appearing underneath Orochimaru and shooting upwards, forming into a triangular prism and locking the ninja in a barrier. However, his blade had managed to make it out of the cage, allowing Orochimaru to shred the barrier apart with a flick of his head, forcing Shuurai to leap back to avoid being slashed. He landed right in front of the mud clone, who prepared to attack him, only to be grabbed from behind by Chopper. "Thank you," Shuurai mused with a nod, glancing over at Chopper with a slight nod.

"Don't thank me yet!" Chopper shouted, Shuurai blinking and looking around slightly as Orochimaru lunged forward, preparing to stab Shuurai with the blade extending from his mouth.

"Sand Bullet." Suddenly, Orochimaru was struck from behind by a fast moving projectile, plowing him face-down into the ground. Shuurai blinked slightly, Chopper lowering his guard slightly as the mud clone began falling apart.

Everyone looked up slightly, noticing a figure descending from a nearby window, standing on what looked to be a cloud. It looked to be a teenage boy in dark red clothing, with brighter red hair, some sort of symbol seemingly engraved on the side of his forehead, and what looked to be an oversized gourd strapped to his back. Chopper blinked in shock at this, mumbling, "Th-the Twilight Monarch..."

Orochimaru looked up with a slight smirk, murmuring, "Gaara...so, you managed to escape after all."

The boy, Gaara, finally descended, stepping to the ground as the cloud of brown dust, seemingly sand, began wafting around him. "You shouldn't be so surprised, Orochimaru," he murmured in a low, slightly hazy voice. "There was no way you'd be able to hold me captive."

Orochimaru continued to chuckle slightly, looking around as Shikamaru began approaching. "You're outnumbered, Orochimaru," the boy remarked, making a hand sign. "Come quietly."

"I...think not..." the ninja responded, suddenly beginning to seemingly melt into the floor, and causing the four surrounding him to blink. "I'm not going to let you take me that easily. We will meet again..."

Orochimaru looked upas his body disappeared, giving a glance at the stunned and growling Chopper, before he finally disappeared from view. "Damn it...he escaped," Shikamaru sighed, grunting slightly and grabbing the wound the mud clone had given him. "What a drag..."

"At least he didn't get away with the Lunar Essence," Shuurai responded, glancing at the glass orb in the middle of the room. He then turned to Gaara, watching as the sand clud began seemingly seeping back into the gourd on his back. "Thank you, sir. If you hadn't have arrived, we might not've been able to defeat him."

Gaara closed his eyes slightly, murmuring, "Think nothing of it. I had been attacked while exploring the Army's base, I had a little bit of difficulty getting away from them."

"Regardless...it appears they must have some sort of plan," Shikamaru mused, glancing at Chopper slightly. "And it involves the Essences, undoubtedly."

The foursome nodded, Gaara glancing at the door. "I'm surprised he managed to get in here so easily undetected, I'm a tad disappointed, really."

Chopper furrowe dhis brow slightly, then responded, "It's not our fault, he was posing as the-" The reindeer halted himself, eyes widening. "The Solar Master! You were right, he was in disguise!"

Shikamaru let out a slight grunt, Shuurai closing his eyes. "Well then...if Orochimaru managed to assume the Solar Master's role, then they must've already taken solar Castle hostage." He glanced at the others, saying, "Alert Silver of the situation, try and see if Orochimaru is alone. Some of the Solar soldiers may be in disguise."

"Yes sir," all three nodded, dashing out of the room, leaving Gaara to glance at the glowing glass orb behind him, the same stoic gaze as before.

"What are you planning...?" the sand ninja murmured lowly, closing his eyes and finally stepping out of the room.

**-The following day-**

The same scenario as before; Victor emerging victorious in a battle against a random opponent, triumphing in a barren wasteland, only to be brought back when it dissolved around him again, the dragon waking up. He very slowly opened his eyes, finding himself staring at a brown, rocky ceiling. It didn't take him too long to register the surroundings as those of the Lunar Castle. "Tsk tsk tsk. you just can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?"

Victor tilted his head to one side, noticing none other than Chopper nearby, currently writing something down on a clipboard. "Wha...what happened last night...?"

The reindeer looked up at Victor. "The Twilight Monarch found you and two other recruits battered and bloody in the courtyard; the place was a mess! Add to that you completely missed the Induction Ceremony...I hope you know how much trouble you're in for this."

Victor let out a slightly irate sigh, tilting his head back, the memories of last night coming back to him. His fight against Don Patch and Tails, Raibaru appearing and completely demolishing him..."Well, there's not much we can do about that right now," Chopper finished with a sigh, setting the clipboard against the front of the bed. "What we need to do is wait for you to recover, then we can see about your punishment."

"Ggh...fine, fine..." the dragon mumbled, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "What happened to them?"

Chopper looked up slightly, pausing for a moment before realizing what he was talking about. "Oh. Yes, they weren't in as bad of shape as you were, they'll be just fine. Don't worry."

With this comment, Chopper began preparing to leave, only to stop. "Oh. And about your team..." He paused, turning around to Victor slightly. "Well...I'll tell you later."

Chopper finally stepped out of the room, Victor glancing after him for a moment. "...couldn't you at LEAST give me something to do other than sit here? Some TV, maybe even turning on the radio at least!"

-**Meanwhile-**

"So...no one knew anything at all?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "No sir. all of them were completely clueless, completely unaware."

Gaara nodded slightly, folding his hands together; he, as well as Silver, Shikamaru, Shuurai, and four others, currently sat in a meeting room. "So...Orochimaru managed to completely assume Sora's role without anyone knowing at all." This comment came from a rather ratty-looking young man, with dishevelled black hair, unkempt clothes, and wide, blank eyes with visible bags underneath. He proceeded to lift up a spoon, which had been dipped in what looked to be a chocolate sundae sitting in front of him. "And neither of you knew of this...?"

His glance travelled to two other fifures sitting amongst them; a younger-looking boy with messy, white hair and similarly unkempt clothes, and a teen with bright, orange hair, and black robes. "No, we didn't," the teen mused with a sigh, closing his eyes and folding his arms. "That Orochimaru guy must've been really good to slip by us. I'm sorry."

Silver looked down as well, setting his head in his hands. "Ggh...I was acting way too opportunistic, and didn't see what was really happening; if I hadn't have accepted, this would never have happened..."

"We shouldn't be spending our time feeling sorry for ourselves," the white-haired boy responded, looking up slightly. "Right now, we should be focusing on solving the problem at hand."

"He's right." This response came from a somewhat short teenage boy with blond hair tied into a ponytail, a red jacket over a black shirt and gloves. He folded his arms, and remarked, "With all of the Solar Faction soldiers here, the Army's probably already taken Solar Castle by storm; we need to get it back!"

Gaara nodded, looking up slightly. "We can't move just yet, however," the teen mused, overlooking the group in front of him. "We need to do a bit of planning first, before we even think of launching such a detrimental assault..."

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor had almost completely fallen asleep, his eyes drooping until he heard a knock on the door. He looked around, watching as it was opened; on the other end was Don Patch, dressed in the same glasses, mustache, and hat disguise he used back on the zeppelin. "What do you want...?" Victor growled lowly.

The orange blob approached, pulling out from behind him what appeared to be a batch of roses. "Special delivery for Mr. Victor."

The dragon narrowed his gaze. "Beat it, you little freak of nature, I'm in no mood to deal with you."

"Oh, so I come to pay my respects and this is the thanks I get?" Don Patch retorted angrily, stepping forward with a grunt.

"Pay respects...?" Victor grumbled, gritting his teeth in irritation. "I'm not dying, you dumbass!"

"But you heard what the doctor said!" Don Patch shouted, adopting his female persona yet again and stepping forward, tears streaming down his face. "If they don't find a cure in time, you'll be a vegetable! They'll chop you up and mix you into soup!"

Victor stared rather blankly, mumbling, "You have your veggies really confused..."

During this time, another figure stepped into the doorway; Tails, who looked up slightly upon noticing the scene. "Uuhh...sorry if I was interrupting anything..." He looked down slightly, folding his hands behind him and rubbing a foot along the ground. "I was just checking to see if you were doing any better..."

Victor blinked slightly as Tails stepped in. "Uh...thanks, I guess."

A few moments passed in silence; Victor looked rather bluntly at his two visitors, Tails glanced over at Don Patch with a somewhat worried expression, though the orange blob seemed rather unphased, picking his nose with a blank expression. Before anything else could be said, the sound of clacking on the floor was heard, prompting everyone to turn to the source of the sound. "Hey, I-...oh! You're all here! That's good."

The source of the voice was Chopper, who stepped in, hooves folded behind his back, smiling. "That saves me the trouble of rounding you all up later."

Victor blinked slightly, Tails murmuring, "Uuhh...why's that? Did you need us for something?"

Chopper nodded. "Mhm. You all missed the Induction Ceremony, so I need to let you guys know who you're being paired up with."

A moment of silence followed, Victor mumbling lowly, "And...why did you need all of us together for that...?"

A wide grin found its way on Chopper's snout. "'Cause you're all on the same team! Congratulations!"


	10. Lieutenant

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 10-Lieutenant

"So...you're back from your assignment."

The small group gathered in the dimly-lit, hall-like, stone room turned around, finding something emerging from the floor; it was easily identifiable as Orochimaru, still looking pretty battered from his recent fight. "Where is-"

"I don't have it," the ninja interrupted with a cold frown, slowly straightening his body out into a standing position.

A low murmur went across the room, the figures speaking lowly. "How do you expect us to succeed if you keep on failing?" came a rather crass, louder voice from a tall figure, whose rather skinny arms and legs contrdicted his round body.

"You're one to talk, doctor." This figure was just as tall, if not even moreso, and had what seemed to be a fur coat draped over his shoulder. He lifted his left hand, which seemed to have a gleaming hook on the end, then asked, "Weren't you supposed to invade Twilight Plains while everyone was at Lunar Hill?"

The round figure turned to the man with the hook, and retorted hotly, "It isn't that easy, you know! They still have guards there!"

"And you can't even deal with those?" This time, it was a man in a robe, with piercing, yellow eyes, and long, spiky hair. "If your army can't defeat some guards, then I hate to think what use they would be to us at all..."

"Probably as scrap metal!" This comment came from a very short, almost toddler-sized figure, who had a rather oblong-shaped head. "They would be much better use if they were used as parts for weapons!"

The child began laughing at this, a rather unusual, gentlemanly laugh, which was soon joined by some loud, beastial laughter from another, very large figure, who barely had any human-like appearances at all. The round man turned towards them with a growl, and shouted back, "Why don't you just..."

"Enough."

Everyone fell silent at the voice, coming from the far side of the room. It was a rather tall figure, rather muscularly built, with long, spiky hair that almost looked like a mane. A cloak was draped on his shoulders. "It is bad enough that one of us can't complete a mission, but if none of us can function as a group, then our plan will never reach fruition!"

The entire group bowed their head before their supposed superior. "There were a few slight mishaps this time...but next time, be sure that there are none. Understand?"

A unanimous "yes sir" went up from the group, as the figure's glowing yellow eyes peered around cautiously. "Now then...I had devised a backup plan in case this one failed...so listen carefully..."

**-Meanwhile-**

Silence overtook the room, Victor and Don Patch staring, jaw agape, at Chopper. "You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking!" the orange blob shouted, grabbing a hold of Chopper and shaking him about. "Say it ain't sooooo!"

"But, I'm not. You are all on a team now," Chopper responded, pushing Don Patch away from him, then folding his arms with a smile. "And I'm your captain."

Don Patch's eyes widened in horror, then fell to his knees, covering his mouth as tears poured out of his eyes. "Chopper, you have to understand..." Victor grunted, suddenly hopping from bed and startling everyone, including the reindeer. The dragon practically got on his knees, pleading, "I cannot be on a team with them!"

He pointed rather accusingly at Don Patch, who was rolling around on the ground, and the slightly stunned Tails, who folded his arms upon being pointed at. "Well gee, that makes me feel really good about myself..." the fox mumbled flatly.

Chopper shrugged, then responded, "Well alright. We can send you home if you don't want to-"

"NO!" Victor all but shouted, shaking Chopper around madly. "Isn't there something you can do about it?"

Chopper's head bobbed about from Victor's violent shaking, the reindeer calling out amidst it, "There is no other way! I'm sorry! You're just gonna have to find some way to get your act together!"

Victor fell silent, continuing to stare ahead as Chopper dettached his claws from his body. "Now then, once you're all in working condition, meet me in the training grounds. We have a little work to do before we can go on missions."

With this comment, Chopper left the room, leaving the others in there silent. Tails lifted one of his namesakes, then pinched it, wincing slightly before looking up. "Nope. No dream."

**-Later-**

Some time later, the trio now waited in the aforementioned training grounds, several new teams training amongst each other, the sounds of smashing and low blasts heard from all around. Victor, Don Patch, and Tails, however, remained motionless for the most part on a bench. Victor and Don Patch continued to look away from each other, Tails glancing at the two of them, chewing the contents of what looked to be a lunchbox. After swallowing, he mumbled lowly, "Sooooo...what's our training regimen for today?"

Don Patch folded his arms and stuck his nose high into the air. "Hmph. It doesn't matter to me, as long as Victor doesn't make it up!"

Victor copied the motion, looking away and mumbling, "Same here, only don't make HIM choose it."

Tails looked between the two of them, then let out a sigh, looking down at the chili dog he had been snacking on previously. "This may take awhile..."

"So, how is everything going so far, team?" Tails looked up, noticing Chopper approaching, arms folded.

With this, Victor and Don Patch stuck their noses even higher into the air. "Terrible. They're not agreeing to anything!" Tails responded desperately, sighing.

Chopper stared for a moment with a blink. "Really? Any training exercises?" Tails shook his head with a frown. "No...plans? Nothing at all?"

"No," Tails mumbled, looking down again. "They're making me do all the choosing. And I don't know what to do! I'm not good at making decisions like this!"

A few moments passed in silence, Chopper folding his arms and rubbing his chin in thought. "Hm..."

"So...you're picking the fox boy as lieutenant?"

Everyone looked up at this, quickly turning to the source of the voice. A somewhat tall, white-furred dragon in a blue coat and black underclothes approached, a rather inviting smile on his face. "Who the hell're you?" Victor asked bluntly.

Chopper immediately turned to Victor, and hissed angrily, "V-Victor! That's General Shuurai you're talking to!"

The dragon glanced at his captain, Tails blinking slightly. "Who's...that?"

"Shuurai is the seond-in-command of the entire Lunar Guild," Chopper responded, turning to the trio with a shocked expression. "His power is second only to that of the Guildmaster; and in battle, he's said to be practically unmatched!"

A few moments passed in silence, Tails glancing at Shuurai with an amazed expression. "What was that you were saying about lieutenant...?" Victor mumbled, glancing at Shuurai slightly.

The furry dragon retained his friendly expression. "Lieutenant. The ranking directly below that of captain. Well...most of the time anyway; you should consider yourself kinda lucky, Chopper's ranking is higher than that of your average captain."

The reindeer blushed rather brightly, folding his hooves and looking away slightly. "B-but, sir...what are you doing here?"

Shuurai chuckled slightly. "Well, I just thought I'd come by and see how our new recruits are faring. Of course, it seems this particular group is having a little bit of difficulty." Chopper looked down with an embarrassed expression. "Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier..." He glanced at Victor, Don Patch, and Tails. "If you're making Miles call all of the shots, you must think he's the best fit to be the second-in-command of this team."

"No way!" Don Patch shouted, abruptly hopping up and pulling out a folder. "He doesn't have nearly all of the right credentials!"

"And that's to insinuate that you do?" Shuurai asked curiously, tilting his head to one side.

The orange blob opened his mouth to speak, only for Victor to finally step on Don Patch, setting an elbow on his knee and rubbing his knuckles against his chest. "Well, if we're speaking about who has the best credentials and stuff, you might as well skip the process and pick me."

Shuurai furrowed his brow at this, Don Patch looking up at Victor with a glare. "Who died and made you team leader?"

"Well, no one yet," Victor responded lowly, looking down at Don Patch with the same contemptuous glare. "But if you don't stop, we might have one or two casualties..."

"Victor, Don Patch, stop it," Chopper called in annoyance, frowning before looking at Tails, the fox having fallen completely silent throughout the argument.

Shuurai had followed the reindeer's gaze, looking down at Tails. "Nothing to say, little one? What do you feel your chances are?"

Tails looked up slightly, then shook his head with a frown. "I'm sorry sir, I just can't be team leader, even if I tried. I'm completely unable to manage it."

Chopper blinked slightly, Shuurai folding his arms. "Really...? Have you ever even tried it? Or have you been taking orders your entire life?"

The fox pursed his lips slightly, looking down as the image of a certain blue spiky-headed animal shot through his mind. While Tails meditated over this, Shuurai glanced back at Victor and Don Patch. "Anyway, since you can't seem to make a decision, we'll just have to resort to a series of tests to see who is best suited."

Victor and Don Patch looked up, the dragon folding his arms with a smirk. "Well hey, won't be my fault when they get hurt..."

"Easy, violent-much," Shuurai responded with a fairly unimpressed tone. "You're not fighting each other."

The drgaon sighed lowly, Don Patch letting out a disappointed "awh" sound. "Well then, what is this test?" Tails asked slightly, looking up.

Shuurai smiled at the vulpine. "Just a few tests to determine your general skill. Finish with your lunch and follow me."

With this comment, the furry dragon began walking off, the team glancing at the rather dense forest he was headed towards. Chopper glanced at the trio, then remarked, "Well then, let's hurry up! We can't leave him waiting!"

"He said we have to finish our lunch first!" Don Patch responded, glancing at Tails, then cramming the rest of the chili dog down his throat. "Get it in gear, slowpoke! You'll never win the golden weiner at that pace!"

Tails gagged slightly from the motion, coughing slightly after swallowing the remains, Victor and Chopper exchanging a sweatdrop. "If you're just about done clowning around, I'd like to get this show on the road," Victor mumbled, beginning to walk off after Shuurai. Chopper was soon to follow, Don Patch dragging the stunned Tails after him.

**-Later-**

After walking into the forest for about 30 minutes, the team managed to arrive at the area Shuurai had specified; a wide-open space in the middle of a clearing. "So glad you could make it," the furry dragon said, smiling.

Victor folded his arms, Don Patch dropping Tails to the ground, the fox slowly getting back to his feet with a groan. "Alright, alright," the dragon mumbled, frowning slightly. "So, what are these tests?"

"This test is usually used when determining a lieutenant," Shuurai responded, looking up. "It consists of five different tests, usually varying depending on the instructer, but overall putting five of your basic skills to the test. These are, in order of testing: Strength, Endurance, Intellect, Teamwork, and Leadership." Shuurai had lifted up a finger after listing off each one. "First off, we'll test your strength."

Victor smirked, cracking his knuckles as Tails gulped nervously. "Perfect. What do we have to do?"

Shuurai smiled again, then glanced at Chopper slightly. "Battle against your captain. All three of you against him."

Chopper blinked slightly, looking at Shuurai in confusion. Victor, Don Patch, and Tails glanced at Chopper disbelievingly. "...you're not serious, are you?" Victor mumbled flatly. "The three of us agains just him?"

"Don't be fooled by appearance," Shuurai remarked, smiling. "Chopper's high ranking in the Lunar Guild isn't just attributed to his skills as a doctor."

Victor glanced back at Chopper slightly, Tails murmuring, "And...that's it? We just have to fight him?"

"That's it," the furry dragon responded with a nod.

Victor, however, furrowed his brow. "Tch, I'll believe that when pigs fly."

"Go! Prove him wrong!" Don Patch shouted, lifting Tails into the air and tossing him up. "Fly! Fly!"

"I'm not a pig!" Tails shouted angrily, coming back down and bopping Don Patch on the head.

Shuurai tilted his head to one side, keeping his warm smile. "Oh? What's wrong, you don't think that's a suitable test?"

"I didn't say that," Victor mumbled lowly, narrowing his gaze. "I'm simply saying that there's gotta be more to the test than just that. How do we decide who wins? Give us some more details."

A few moments passed in silence, the group glancing at Victor, then at Shuurai, who chuckled. "Well, you're more insightful than I thought. Yes, there's a specific objective to complete, but you'll have to find it out yourself. Giving you all the answers would be a little too easy."

Victor narrowed his gaze slightly, Shuurai beckoning Chopper towards him. The reindeer approached, staring down his team as Shuurai stepped back. "You may begin when ready."

**-Meanwhile-**

"So. We heard that your conduct during the Induction Ceremony was a little less than acceptable."

The red-haired teen looked up, staring off at the figure in front of him; a certain gray-furrwed wolf, dressed in a trenchcoat with a single scarred eye, colored yellow as opposed to his other, reddish-brown one. "Raibaru. If it weren't for the fact that your fighter's report is quite impressive, I'd consider discharging you for this. However..."

"We simply cannot afford to lose such an asset like yourself." This voice came from a ratty-looking young man with unkempt black hair, pasty skin, and wide, bug-like eyes. He proceeded to plop several sugar cubes into what looked to be a cup of tea, stirring them about. "So this time, we'll let you off with a warning."

The wolf closed his eyes, bowing his head ever so slightly. "Yes sir."

"As for your team..." the red-haired teen, identifiable as Gaara, continued. He looked up, his attention going to two different figure son either side of Raibaru; a somewhat short, black, spiky-headed animal, and a slightly taller, blue, anthropomorphic jackal. "I trust you three have already gotten acquainted?"

A nod from the trio. Gaara closed his eyes, then spoke once again. "General Elric. I leave them in your care."

"Yes sir." At this, a somewhat short, blonde-haired boy approached, a red coat on underneath a black outfit. "Well, looks like you three're taking orders from me now."

All three glanced at the boy, Gaara looking up again. "You are to begin undertaking missions immediately. Do not fail me."


	11. Technicality

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 11-Technicality

"Tch...whatever you say," Victor responded with a smirk, clenching his fists in preparation. Tails and Don Patch glanced at each other as Victor abruptly charged forward, a fist wound up. In response to this, Chopper abruptly hopped back to avoid the incoming punch, his body suddenly changing into a slightly larger, more feral deer. Victor blinked as Chopper kicked off of the ground with his hind legs, headbutting Victor rather powerfully and sending him toppling backwards, hitting a tree. "Oof!"

Don Patch and Tails glanced back at Chopper as he scraped his hoof slightly on the ground, preparing another charge. "H-he...changed shape...?"

"That is Chopper's primary skill," Shuurai explained, prompting the group to glance at him as he folded his arms. "It is the power of the Hito Hito no Mi, a 'Devil Fruit'."

Tails blinked slightly, Don Patch lowering his gaze. "I see...I know what I must do to defeat this opponent." He abruptly stood up, suddenly donning a robe and waving prayer beads around frantically. "I must exorcize the evil fruit from his body!"

Everyone stared with a blank expression as Don Patch charged forward, only for Chopper to duck, then scoop him into the air, sending the orange blob flying into another tree. "The Hito Hito no Mi grants me three different transformations," Chopper explained, glancing at Tails. "One which is pure reindeer...one which is pure human...and one which is a combination of the two."

"That must be the pure reindeer form..." Tails murmured, stepping back and clenching his fists slightly.

"Correct; I like to call it 'Walk Point' since my speed is greatest in this form," Chopper explained again, charging towards Tails. The fox quickly hopped over the attack, looking down and preparing a stomp onto Chopper's back. Instead, the reindeer abruptly returned to his former tiny state, managing to dodge the attack. "Brain Point, a combination of human intelligence and animal instincts and senses!"

Tails turned around to Chopper, quickly hopping back to give himself some room. Chopper smiled slightly, only to blink once Victor stomped the ground behind him. The reindeer whirled around, Victor growling and preparing a downwards fist slam. "And finally..."

Chopper suddenly changed to a much larger, more humanoid form, grabbing Victor's fist in midflight. The dragon blinked in shock; he had used this form back on the zeppelin. "Heavy Point, pure human form. Boasting incredible strength!"

As if to prove this point, Chopper abruptly lifted Victor over his head and slammed him into the ground with a powerful thud. "Ggh!"

The reindeer stood up, looking around and finding Don Patch, now riding in what looked to be a miniature biplane with a few others alongside him, charging forward. "We've got him in our sights, fire at will!"

Several tiny bullets were shot towards Chopper, who waved his arms around angrily in an attempt to ward them off. "Ow! Stop that!"

Shuurai furrowed his brow in curiosity as Chopper finally grabbed a hold of one of the wings of Don Patch's plane, smashing it and causing him to spiral out of control. "Man down, man down!" the orange blob cried, skidding to a halt after crashing to the ground.

Chopper straightened himself out, just in time for something to impact him in the back, hard. He grunted slightly, looking behind him and noticing the boxing glove attachment on Tails' arm being reeled in. Chopper turned to him, the fox pursing his lips with a slight shiver. "Nooooooo!"

Don Patch suddenly leaped onto Chopper's back, beating him on the head and crying, "Don't hurt him, I know you're not a monster on the inside, just give us a chaaaaance!"

"Please...start taking this more seriously!" Chopper shouted, grabbing Don Patch and preparing to plow him into the ground. Instead, Don Patch seemed to roll along his hand, shifting his grip and instead reversing the assault, plowing Chopper into the ground with a powerful crash. "Guh!"

Don Patch abruptly hopped onto Chopper's body, now wearing some sort of colorful mask on his face. "ONE! TWO! THREE!"

A loud dinging seemed to be heard from nowhere, Don Patch lifting up some sort of oversized belt. "Here's your winner, and the greatest fighter in the world, Dooooooon Paaaaa-"

The announcer's comment was cut off when Victor kicked the orange blob away, shouting, "SHUT UP!"

Don Patch seemed to rebound off of the nearby tree, abruptly crashing into Victor's body and sending them both flying back. Both landed rather harshly on the ground, Victor standing up and shouting angrily, "Hey! Watch where you're flying, we're supposed to be working together!"

"He said nothing about that!" Don Patch retorted, the two butting heads and growling. "All he said was to beat him in pitched combat!"

"Still, it'd help if you weren't screwing everything up and hitting your teammates!"

"Maybe it'd help if you weren't getting in my way and getting hit!"

"Are you blaming you hitting me on me?"

The two seemed to erupt in a comedic dust cloud of activity, several painful sounds heard from the cloud as Chopper, Tails, and Shuurai stared from a distance with blank expressions. "Uh...is the test over?"

"Not yet," Shuurai responded, lifting a hand. "We haven't gotten a decisive winner just yet."

Chopper glanced at him, then nodded, abruptly shifting to his Walk Point and charging forward. Victor and Don Patch stopped their fight long enough to notice the reindeer approaching. "Eh?"

"Leave this to me!" Don Patch shouted, hopping to the ground in front of Victor and holding his hands out. He then roared in a rather guttural tone, "COOOOOME GEEEEEET SOOOOOOME!"

With this comment, Chopper proceeded to tackle Don Patch, knocking him flying back with ease and smashing the blob into Victor, sending both crashing into a tree. Tails and Shuurai winced as both hit the ground, slowly trying to stagger to their feet. Victor hit one knee with a pant, groaning, "Tch...damn...screwing everything up..."

Don Patch, on the other hand, stayed at his feet, smirking. "Hehe...is that all you've got? I've faced tougher tissue paper!"

With this comment, he threw a fist into the air, roaring, "YOU HEAR ME TISSUE? YOU HAVEN'T WON THIS YET!"

Chopper sighed lowly, preparing to charge forward. "That's enough, the test is over." Shuurai's abrupt comment caused Chopper to suddenly revert back to Brain Point, landing face-first on the ground with a thud.

All of the participants glanced at Shuurai with a blink, Victor panting slowly and staggering to his feet. "Then...who...won...?"

Shuurai smiled. "Don Patch has won the first test."

Victor stared with a gawking expression, Don Patch jumping into the air with a loud cheer. "YEEEEES!" He came back down, now holding some sort of golden trophy with his own form on top, and began mumbling sheepishly, "Oh I don't know how to start...first I'd like to thank my director, and the makeup department of course..."

"WHY?" Victor shouted angrily.

Shuurai glanced at Victor with a serious expression. "Look back at how he battled earlier. He showed the best utilization of not only his own power, but that of his opponent."

Viictor was brought back to the slam Don Patch had pulled on Chopper, and even the tackle that nailed them both at the same time. "That was just him being stupid!" Victor shouted angrily. "That wasn't power at all!"

"Even if it wasn't," Shuurai continued, glancing at Victor. "You didn't even land a single attack. Your strikes were either dodged or outright blocked; you lacked coordination and technique, and as a result all of your brute force was wasted."

Victor continued to grunt lowly, glancing at Tails. "But he-"

"Didn't even get up close, and when he did he fled just as quickly," Shuurai finished, glancing at Tails. "It wasn't exactly power at all."

The fox looked down with a slight frown. "Regardless, we're moving on to the second test; the test of endurance."

The group glanced at Shuurai, Chopper standing up and dusting himself off. "And what do we do this time...?" Victor growled lowly.

Shuurai smiled. "Think of it as a game of hide-and-seek. You have to find Chopper within the forest."

Victor blinked, Chopper glancing at Shuurai. "Hmph...sounds easy enough."

"Before sundown," the furry dragon added, everyone blinking again.

The group looked up into the sky, finding the sun still pretty high up; from the looks of things it only seemed to be 3 in the afternoon. Victor smirked, looking back down. "Got it."

"Now I see..." Chopper mumbled to himself, looking back down at his team. He abruptly shifted to his Walk Point, Don Patch charging forward.

"IMMA GONNA CATCH YA, VARMINT!" he abruptly shouted with a thick, southern accent. Chopper quickly hopped into the forest, seemingly disappearing as Don Patch followed him in, now toting a pair of flintlock pistols while an oversized, ten-gallon hat bounced up and down on his head. Victor and Tails both blinked slightly, the dragon looking around cautiously. Chopper probably knew the woods better than any of them; and given his speed and animal senses, it'd just make the test even more difficult. He'd have to take this nice and slow.

Tails, on the other hand, seemed to have an entirely different idea. He sat down, reaching into his thick namesakes and pulling out a canteen and something in a wrapper. Victor looked around slightly to find the fox enjoying the rest of his lunch from earlier, seemingly paying the test no heed. He furrowed his brow with a sigh; putting his meal before the test was a foolish idea. The dragon proceeded to enter the forest, leaving Shuurai to stare at Tails for a moment, a smile penetrating his snout.

**-Later-**

2 hours passed, Tails and Shuurai remaining in one spot; surprisingly, by this point the sky was a deep orange, nighttime coming on fast. Soon enough, Chopper had leaped out of the forest, reverting to Brain Point before looking up with a slight blink. "Tails? You're still here?"

The fox, who had been lying on the ground staring at the sky, looked up. "Mhm."

"Why didn't you look for me?" he asked rather curiously, glancing at Shuurai.

Tails staggered to his feet. "There was no point." Chopper blinked in surprise as Tails looked up at the sky, which was starting to mix together with a deep blue and orange for an almost ethereal effect. "Lunar Hill is notorious for longer nights than days; even now in the summertime, sundown is at 5 o clock at the latest." He looked back at Chopper. "In the last test, you told us that one of your forms had human intellect and animal instincts combined; not to mention you probably know this forest like the back of your hand...er, hoof. We would have never been able to find you in the time alloted. It would've been a waste of our energy."

A few moments passed in silence, Chopper glancing at Shuurai with a stupefied expression. "...wow."

"Interesting deduction, Miles," Shuurai remarked, glancing at the fox with a smile.

Tails blushed brightly, rubbing the back of his head. "E-ehehe...not to toot my own horn, but...I DO have an I.Q. of 300..."

Chopper blinked in surprise. "Wow..." At this time, a rather beaten and tired Victor and Don Patch staggered in from the forest. "Did you two get all that?"

Both nodded with a rather blunt expression. "In that case, I think it's safe to say that Tails has won the second test."

The fox beamed at this, Victor growling in irritation. That was the SECOND test he had failed...at this rate, he'd never win. However...something about this had made him very skeptical. A solution like that...would never be in line with an endurance test. If anything, that was testing their brainpower, not their endurance skills. "Alright, it's time for test three. The test of intellect."

The answer seemed to smash Victor over the head like a brick. Shuurai glanced at the trio. "Go fetch us some dinner. That is all."

Don Patch got to his feet, giving a thumbs up. "Heh! Don't worry, I'll not only get us some dinner..." He abruptly made a stance, adopting a thin, curly mustache and a large chef's toque. "...but eet will be made with ze finest ingrediants! BAM!"

He proceeded to make a flicking motion towards Victor, who growled lowly. "Incidentally..." the dragon mumbled, glancing at Shuurai. "After this test...which is next?"

The furry dragon blinked slightly. "After the test of intellect is the test of teamwork. Why?"

"I see..." Victor mumbled, looking down before grabbing Don Patch, and plopping him on a rock next to Chopper. "In that case, you're sitting this one out."

The orange blob stared up at Victor with a shocked expression. "What? You can't make the head chef sit out! This is mutiny! Mutiny I tell yo-"

"Alright," Shuurai said with a nod, glancing at Don Patch. "Mr. Patch, you're sitting this test out."

The orange blob gawked at Shuurai for a moment, Tails glancing at Victor with a blink. "Now I understand..." he uttered lowly.

"As for the both of you, go off and fetch us some dinner," Shuurai finished, clapping his hands together. Both nodded and departed into the forest, Shuurai folding his arms. "Perhaps he's not as stupid...or as self centered...as he appears..."


	12. Past Tense

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 12-Past Tense

About 30 minutes afterward, Victor and Tails had returned with their catches, laying down a small pile of fruits and some slain animals. Shuurai folded his arms, passing the meal by without a second glance. "Mm. Very good. The winner of this test is Victor."

A confident smirk found its way onto the dragon's snout as Shuurai glanced at him. "So, I suppose you figured out the idea behind this test? As well as all of the others?"

Victor nodded, Tails glancing at Victor again. "Looking back...I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't figure it out before...well, I'm more surprised Victor of all people found it out."

The dragon suppressed a glare at the fox, Shuurai waving a paw towards Victor. "Care to explain then?"

Don Patch glanced at Victor as he folded his arms. "Gladly. The tests you've been giving us...weren't all they seemed to be, was it?" He glanced at Shuurai slightly. "The order's been messed up. That last test you gave us wasn't a test of endurance at all, it was a matter of knowing that it was pointless to go chasing after Chopper. In essence, that was a test of brainpower...even though that was the last test."

A smile began creeping onto Shuurai's mouth. "And let's not forget that Don Patch won the first round; you say it was because he showed the best usage of power..." Victor glanced at the orange blob with a frown. "...when in actuality is was because of his persistence. A show of his endurance...even if that was the NEXT test."

The dragon turned back to Shuurai. "Which means...this one was really a test of our teamwork skills." He smirked once again. "And since a certain SOMEONE hadn't had any rest at all since the test began...I made Don Patch sit out so he didn't get any more exhausted than he already was."

"OBJECTION!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, pointing at Victor. "You only wanted me out of the way so I wouldn't get another point!"

"Overruled," Shuurai responded, Chopper whacking Don Patch with a leek spawned seemingly from nowhere. "Victor wins the next test."

"And now that we know the real ordering..." Tails murmured, looking up at Shuurai. "We only have one test left...Leadership..."

Shuurai nodded, sitting down and prompting the others to do the same. The furry dragon motioned his hand towards a pile of gathered firewood, suddenly causing it to spark to life with a sizeable fire. Everyone was startled at the sudden display, Shuurai murmuring, "This test doesn't require any action or physical exertion. It's just a simple question."

Everyone glanced at Shuurai as he folded his hands together with a serious question. "Assume that you're on a mission. You end up in a near unsolveable situation, and the only way you can escape and finish, is if one of you stays behind to face certain death. The question...which one of you stays behind?"

The trio fell silent, casting a slight glance at each other. "The answer isn't as simple as giving me a name," the furry dragon responded, narrowing his gaze slightly. "I want reasons, explanations...whoever gives me the best reasoning will win this test and become the new lieutenant."

A few more moments passed with the only sound being that of the fire crackling. All three looked down slightly, Chopper looking between them while chewing on an apple. "I expect your answers by the end of the meal," Shuurai responded, picking up one of the birds that Victor and Tails had brought.

The rest of the meal passed in silence, all three of the recruits deep in silence. Chopper would continuously look at the recruits, then back at Shuurai; who didn't even bother to cook whatever meat it was he had, occasionally picking bits of bone out of his mouth after each bite. Finally, almost an hour had passed, and the meal had been finished. "And now that our meal is done, tell me." Shuurai leaned forward slightly, lowering his gaze. "Your choices. Victor, you may go first."

The dragon nodded. "It doesn't even need to be said who I think...no, who SHOULD be left behind if that situation ever occurs." He cast a glare at Don Patch. "Say what you will, his victory in the first test was a fluke. Not to mention he's a coward; he hid behind someone else the first time the opportunity arose in a conflict..." Tails pursed his lips and glanced at Don Patch, who had been gritting his teeth in anger. "...he can't take anything seriously, and is one of THE most vain people on the planet. Hell if it weren't for the fact that we NEED three people on a team I'd ask to kick him out right now."

Victor finally folded his arms, closing his eyes in silence. Shuurai furrowed his brow slightly, then turned around. "I see. Don Patch, what do you have to say in return?"

The orange blob stood up at this, then waved a hand around. "Like Victor has any room to talk! He's the truly selfish one here! He may say he had my best intentions when he made me sit out that last test..." He cast a condescending glare at the dragon. "I bet he secretly rejoiced once I was taken out of the picture and he knew he didn't have to worry about me getting a point over him."

Victor almost stood up at this, but was brought back down by Shuurai holding his blade in front of him. "Not to mention he's extremely violent! Some people can attest, that all he cares about is beating the living shit out of someone should the opportunity arise!" Once again, eyes travelled to Tails, who shivered; they were attempting to outdo the other using him as testimony? "If we were to leave him behind this team would work a whole lot better...not to mention..." Don Patch lifted a finger into the air. "I wouldn't have any other minor characters trying to outshine me!"

A few moments passed in silence once again, Don Patch sitting back down to signify that he was done. He glanced at Victor with a confident smirk, the dragon gritting his teeth in annoyance. Shuurai let out a near inaudible sigh. "Fine...Miles, your turn."

Tails glanced at Shuurai for a moment, then slowly got to his feet. "Um...for future reference, I'd prefer if you called me Tails, sir..."

"As you wish," he responded, nodding slightly.

The fox cleared his throat, then looked at the group. "First off...I'd like to say that Victor and Don Patch both posed very good points. Yes, Don Patch tried to hide behind me, use me to avoid getting himself hurt once we confronted Victor. But he himself also posed a really good point; Victor is prone to excessive violence." The fox was brought back to Don Patch's claims that he could help him, alongside Victor actually drawing his blade during their battle, as if he had the intent to kill.

"I can't exactly vouch for their bits about the test, but..." Tails looked down. "They were right, kinda. Don Patch is a nonsensical coward, and Victor's a violent warmonger. That's not to say I have my own flaws too." He looked up only slightly, a seemingly sad expression on his face. "I'm cowardly...have next to no confidence in my abilities...gullible..."

The fox looked up again. "Before I came to the Lunar Guild, I worked alongside a few others who were just as problematic as them. Arrogant and hasty...gullible and workaholic...borderline insane and obsessive..." He shooked his head slightly. "My point is that no one's perfect. We all have a set of flaws that puts us at a disadvantage in one area or another. But that's the entire point of teaming up, isn't it?"

Shuurai managed a slight smile as Tails motioned to Victor. "Sure Victor's overly violent, but he's extremely powerful, and that's more than I can say for myself or Don Patch." Victor furrowed his brow slightly and looked down as Tails glanced at Don Patch. "And honestly, we can't take everything so seriously all the time. The fact that Don Patch is so laidback means he can't let pressure get to him THAT easily, and that can be an asset in some situations."

The orange blob simply folded his hands behind his head with a slight smirk. "And as we've all seen, I've got quite a brain on me." Tails blushed slightly and tapped the side of his head. "Honestly, that's something that neither Victor or Don Patch can claim to have." Victor frowned slightly as Don Patch fell over. "If we spent all of our time focusing on the negatives each other has, then we'd be too preoccupied to focus on the better aspects."

He managed a small smile and looked up. "The group I worked with prior managed to make things work by focusing on their own specialties, we can do the same with this one. I realize I may've strayed far from the question, but..." He folded his hands together and looked down. "My point is that this team wouldn't be able to function without each other. I say...there isn't a situation where we HAVE to leave someone behind. It just can't happen." He shook his head, then sat down, head bowed.

A few more moments passed in silence, Chopper slowly glancing at Shuurai, who looked down slightly. "Hmm...interesting..." He stood up at this. "I'll leave you be for a moment."

Everyone looked up at the furry dragon as he walked off, momentarily disapparing into the woods. The group stared after him for a moment, Chopper finally opting to speak up. "Tails, that was really...cool."

The fox looked up at him with a bright blush. "I-it was nothing..."

"You know I'm not the type to throw around compliments..." Victor suddenly responded, glancing at Tails with a slight frown. "...but, hell, that was impressive."

Tails blushed even brighter and looked down. "W-well...it was all true..." He looked up slightly. "T-to be honest...there's someone...I want to impress..."

The trio blinked slightly. "Oh? Who is it? A loooooove interest?" Don Patch asked, adopting a sinister smirk.

Tails looked up, his face flushed crimson. "I-it's a guy, just so you know!"

"I always thought you flew that way," Don Patch remarked, putting his hand to his chin with a confident expression, only for Victor to smack the orange blob back into the ground in annoyance.

"Thank you, Victor," Tails mumbled, before sighing and continuing. "He's my best friend...not to mention a true hero...he's everything I want to be..." Tails shook his head slightly. "I've been living in his shadow for as long as I can remember. He was tops in just about everything he did..." Tails looked down deeper, closing his eyes. "Y-you could say...I was a tad...j-jealous..."

The fox closed his eyes to try and remove that thought from his head, then looked up again. "Anyway, soon enough he joined the Solar Faction. The most prestigious power of the Celestial Alliance, and he passed with flying colors...I wanted to follow in his footsteps." The fox blushed brightly again. "Th-though...when I tried out for the Solar Faction, I was turned down...so I instead went to the Lunar Guild. I passed, of course, but..."

He looked down again and shivered. "I get pulled into a feud against my will, taken advantage of behind my back, nearly killed by some mystery wolf...not exactly the best way to kick things off." He looked up again with a frown. "If I can't even get THOSE right...there's no way I could possibly be second in command..."

Victor looked down with a slight frown, a bit of guilt starting to nag at the back of his head for so brashly dragging the fox boy into the conflict. His train of thought was interrupted when Don Patch let out a hysterical cry. "Attention! That's all I ever wanted, was some well-deserved attention!" He hopped to his feet as everyone glanced at him, slightly startled. "I used to work alongside a group of others too...but I never got any respect!"

Don Patch let out a slight growl and waved his hand around. "I was used as a shield...attacked by my own allies...no respect I tell ya, no respect!"

"You don't really have any room to talk there..." Tails mumbled flatly, gingerly touching the knot on his head that had formed from Don Patch using him as an apple launcher.

The orange blob clenched his fist in front of him with a smirk. "So I joined the Lunar Guild to go and change that. I was going to get so powerful, overshadow everyone here, prove my real worth...then no one would even dare try to disrespect me again!"

A few moments passed in silence, Victor forcing Don Patch into a sitting position. "Yeah yeah, save it for when you actually HAVE any respect."

Chopper glanced at Victor slightly, opening his mouth. "And you, Victor?"

Everyone jumped slightly at Shuurai's sudden re-emergence behind the dragon, Victor whirling around to him. "F-FUCK! DON'T DO THAT!"

"I apologize," Shuurai responded, folding his arms slightly. "As I was saying...your two teammates have told us a little bit about themselves, how about you? Care to tell us?"

Victor furrowed his brow slightly. "First you scare the living daylights out of me, then you expect me to pour my heart out for you?"

"Yes," Shuurai responded as-a-matter-of-factly. "I do, as a matter of fact."

A few moments passed, Victor sighing before turning back to everyone. "You see this?" He proceeded to grab at the star-shaped pendant around his neck. "This...belonged to my parents. It's all I have to remember them by...their final memento."

Chopper blinked slightly. "W-wait...do you mean they're...?"

Victor glanced at the reindeer slightly, then went back to his explanation. "I grew up as an orphan with no parents. All I had was my twin sister by my side." Tails and Chopper both pursed their lips and looked down slightly. "I don't know anything about my parents...other than they were both in service to the Twilight Society. Apparently they were killed in a raid, leaving me and my sister to fend for ourselves."

Victor looked up again with a frown. "Honestly...I don't buy any of that for one second." Shuurai blinked slightly. "Say what you will, I think there's something more to the story than that. And I vow that I'm going to find out. That's why I originally tried to join the Twilight Society..." He looked down slightly. "...I failed, to say the least...but I haven't given up yet. I'm going to find my folks if it's the last thing I do." He gripped at the pendant around his neck once again. "And even if they are dead...I'm going to find out who did it, and make them wish they were never born."

Don Patch and Tails blinked slightly, Chopper casting a seemingly worried glance at Shuurai, who remained stoic. "I see." He closed his eyes, then looked down. "I suppose you wish to know who the new lieutenant is now."

All three remained silent, staring up at Shuurai as he looked up again. "The promotion goes to..." The furry dragon seemed to contemplate for a moment longer. "...Tails."

Don Patch let out a groan and fell onto his back, the fox staring up at Shuurai incredulously. After what had happened, Victor seemed a little more indifferent and looked down with a slight sigh. "Tomorrow, you'll begin to pay off your debt to the Lunar Guild for destroying the courtyard."

With this comment, the furry dragon prepared to walk off, Chopper hopping up and stepping after him. Before Shuurai could completely re-enter the forest, Chopper had stepped next to him. "C-commander...V-Victor..."

"If he finds out...then he finds out." Shuurai glanced at Chopper slightly, speaking barely above a whisper. "We can't do anything about it. We'll have to roll with the punches."

Chopper looked down slightly, Shuurai turning back to the forest. _"We can't...but HE could..."_


	13. The First Mission

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 13-The First Mission

The sound of cracking earth was heard as the banner was planted into the dried ground, a smirk finding its way onto Victor's snout. He lifted his sword victoriously, looking around at the barren expanse before him; no doubt about it, this was the same war dream from before. Despite the emptiness of his surroundings, the sound of a cheering crowd greeted his motion, Victor looking around with a pleased smirk.

His stance and the cries didn't last for very long, for as soon as they began dulling, Victor noticed something large and dark in the air approaching fast. A dark cloud? The dragon frowned as it grew closer, bringing with it a low rumbling from above. Victor looked up slightly, watching as the black clouds seemed to begin collecting over him, swirling slightly. The dragon furrowed his brow in curiosity, just in time to notice the rumbling increase in volume. He had precious little time before he noticed a streak of light headed straight for him from above. Victor's eyes widened in shock as...

"...Victor!"

Victor's dream was abruptly dissolved when a splash of cold water was thrown into his face, disrupting his current position. "Grah!"

"He's awake!" Victor looked up slightly, noticing a worried Tails and a once again feminine Don Patch. The orange blob grabbed him and began hugging, crying, "I thought I was going to lose you!"

"Get off..." the dragon grumbled, kicking him away and disrupting a pile of rubble.

Tails sighed as Victor got back to his feet. "Victor, we're supposed to be cleaning up our mess, not making it even bigger..."

The dragon waved his hand around in irritation; the trio had spent the entire day cleaning up the courtyard from the fight during the Induction Ceremony. Victor, however, had fallen asleep out of boredom. "Yeah yeah, I know...look, we're almost done anyway."

"Not if you keep wrecking things, we won't be," Tails responded, going over to pull Don Patch out of the rubble and setting him aside to begin putting the debris back in.

"Well geez, what are you, my mom?" Don Patch responded with a scowl, waving his hand around in a similar fashion to Victor.

Tails turned to the orange blob with a frown. "No, but I am your lieutenant."

"Oohh, I'm soooo scaaaared," Don Patch responded with a whine, making a mock horrified expression.

"I second that," Victor responded, picking up one of the rocks and beginning to grind it into dust between his claws. "You may be our superior by the Lunar Guild's standards, but not by mine."

The fox glanced at the two of them, then sighed miserably, hanging his head. "Right..."

Everyone looked up upon hearing someone clear their throat. All three turned to the source, Chopper, who had his arms folded. "Team."

The reindeer entered the area and looked around, nodding slightly. "Good, good, this place looks a lot better than before!"

Victor smirked slightly. "What, didja think that we wouldn't be able to pick some rocks up and put 'em away? You underestimate us."

Chopper frowned slightly. "Uh huh...anyway, I came to let you know that we got ourselves a mission."

All three of them blinked, Victor's smirk widening. "Now that's what I like to hear!"

"What is it? Huh? Huh?" Don Patch asked energetically, hopping by Chopper's side.

The reindeer pushed him out of the way slightly, then responded, "Well...there've been reports of soldiers from the Twilight Society going out in the middle of the night and not returning. We're going to Twilight Plains to go investigate the cause."

Victor folded his arms. "Sounds easy enough. We just find these missing soldiers, then beat the living hell out of whoever it is that's kidnapping them?"

Chopper quickly held up his hooves and waved them around. "N-now now Victor, let's not get too hasty! We don't know that they're getting kidnapped, it could be a completely different reason!"

The dragon frowned with a slight sigh, shaking his head. "Well, as long as it gets us outta this boring cleaning duty, then I'm not complaining."

"Then let's get a move on," Chopper responded, turning around. "Let's get to the zeppelin so we can get moving."

The trio began walking off at this; from above, through a different window, Shuurai watched the foursome, smiling. "Are you sure they're up for it?"

Shuurai turned around slightly to the other figure in the room; Shikamaru. "They're a team of recruits; we could've very well sent a much more experienced team to do this."

The furry dragon chuckled, closing his eyes. "Please, Mr. Nara...you don't put enough stock in their abilities. They'll fare just fine."

He looked back around, eyeing them with his smile persisting. "I promise."

**-Later-**

The zeppelin the team was to be taking wasn't nearly as large as the one that brought Victor to Lunar Hill; then again, the only ones on board were Victor's team and a few other flight personnel. The zeppelin was also armored for extra protection, should they encounter anyone looking for a fight.

Victor currently sat at the deck, staring at the sky with a dreary expression. He sighed slightly, looking around for a moment, just in time to notice what looked to be a radio. "Hmm..."

The dragon looked around; Don Patch was currently playing with a toy car nearby, Chopper was speaking with another soldier on board, and Tails was below deck doing...whatever. The dragon finally approached the radio, picking it up and beginning to try turning it on. "Teresa? You there?"

Nothing but static. It was also kinda dusty, which made Victor wonder if it was even in working order. The dragon furrowed his brow, setting it on the ground and beginning to think. A stray thought crossed his mind; it had been a while since he had worked with enchanting, and he was certain there could be a way to get it working with some magic.

With this in mind, Victor smirked and set his hands on it, concentrating. He began thinking of the spell he needed...it was on the tip of his tongue...he began uttering a low incantation under his breath. However, almost as soon as he started, the radio began sparking, prompting Victor to open an eye slightly. "The fu-"

Victor's obscenity was cut off when the radio abruptly exploded, covering him in smoke and causing both Chopper and the soldier to jump in surprise. Don Patch, however, was unperturbed, and continued mimicking engine sounds with his mouth. "What happened?"

The smoke cloud faded, revealing a now blackened Victor, as well as a hole that led below deck, where Tails was currently sitting at a bench with a magazine in his lap, looking up with a shocked expression as some bits of splintered wood fell around him. "Oops..."

"Victor, what did you do?" Chopper shouted in a panic, rushing over.

The dragon turned to his captain, then mumbled, "I, ah...tried enchanting an old radio and it blew up." Victor rubbed the back of his head, mumbling, "I always was terrible with magic..."

Chopper frowned with displeasure. "Well, for the rest of the trip, you're not allowed to cast magic. We can't have you blasting us out of the sky!"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Victor grumbled, standing up with a slight stagger. "I'm getting a shower..."

**-Later-**

Victor returned about 15 minutes later to find some soldiers working on repairing the hole in the deck he had made. The dragon sighed slightly. "Victor?"

The dragon nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around to find Tails standing behind him with a somewhat large chunk of metal. "Dammit! Don't do that!"

"S-sorry..." the fox mumbled, looking down slightly. "It's just...what did you need the radio for?"

Victor dropped his guard slightly and took on a serious expression. "I was going to check in with my twin sister, Teresa. Tell her about what's happened and whatnot."

Tails nodded slightly, holding up the metallic device in his hands. "You can use my radio if you like...just...don't break it."

The dragon looked down at it slightly, blinking. "Uh...thanks."

He accepted the radio and began walking back to a bench, Tails following him as Victor switched it on. The fox boy directed Victor through the process of finding the correct reception number due to its complexity (or Victor's simplicity, or possibly even both) resulting in a little bit of static being heard before the sound on the other end became more identifiable. "Hello?"

Deciding that he had found the correct signal, Victor cleared his throat. "Teresa? It's Victor."

The female voice on the other end paused for a moment. "...Victor? Where are you?"

The dragon couldn't help but begin smirking. "I'm, ah...on a zeppelin, flying to the site of my first mission."

"First mission?" the voice echoed in confusion. "Wait...you actually passed? You're in the Twilight Society now?"

"Lunar Guild, actually," Tails piped up, resulting in Victor casting him a hateful glare. "J-just sayin'..."

"Lunar Guild?" Teresa echoed with a contemplative tone.

Victor turned back to the radio, his smile fading. "Yeah, I ah...didn't pass the Twilight Society examination, but the Lunar Guild accepted me."

Teresa fell silent for a moment. "Well...I see. Looks like I was right after all. Kinda."

Victor nodded. "Yeeeeaaaaah...anywho, I'm curious as to how things are going over-"

The dragon was interrupted when Don Patch abruptly hopped on his shoulders, leaning towards the radio. "Hello? Who is this? Is it Victor's girlfriend?"

"It's my sister, you jackass!" Victor shouted, throwing Don Patch off of him.

The orange blob rolled to a halt, smirking. "Hmph...didn't think you flew that way."

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Victor roared, chasing after Don Patch while swinging his sword around in a demented manner.

"Denial! It's written all over your face!" Don Patch shouted, only to be silenced when a fist from above embedded him into the deck.

"Would you two stop it?" Chopper all but roared, grabbing Victor by the scruff of his vest as he came to a halt in front of him.

Tails stared at the trio with a blank expression as the conflict continued. "Hello? What happened?"

The fox blinked when Teresa's voice brought him from his stupor. He turned back to the radio, murmuring, "Uuhh, this is Tails, Victor's lieutenant. I'm sorry, you'll have to call back later. Remember the reception number, Victor blew the last radio he was using up."

"It was an accident!" Victor shouted in irritation, Tails terminating the call as Chopper scooped up both Victor and Don Patch.

"Stop it, you two!" Chopper shouted in irritation.

Victor growled lowly, pointing accusingly at Don Patch. "Well he started it!"

"I don't care who started it, I'm ending it!" Chopper retorted angrily, dropping the duo harshly to the ground. "We'll be dropping off in Twilight Society soon, and I want you to be on your best behavior!"

Victor and Don Patch turned away from each other, folding their arms with a grumble. Tails prepared to step back below deck to put his radio away, only to look around and blink. He squinted his eyes, murmuring, "What's that?"

The arguing trio looked around, Victor soon noticing a very drastic change in their surroundings; while the sky had formerly been a clear, light blue, it was now a very deep, black color with yellowish-colored clouds streaming about. Despite the dark sky, they were still able to see just fine, as if light were coming from the clouds themselves. "Whoa."

"Twilight Plains has always looked like this," Chopper explained, glancing at Tails. "It has a really...dead appearance to it."

"I-I know," Tails responded with a slight blush, pointing forward. "I'm talking about THAT."

Everyone turned to where Tails was pointing; sure enough, they saw some dot on the horizon, seemingly approaching them from the side. Victor blinked slightly, Chopper murmuring, "Huh...I didn't know they were sending us a welcoming party..."


	14. Attack of the Turtles

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 14-Attack of the Turtles

"Something tells me they're not here to roll out the welcome wagon..." Victor responded, narrowing his gaze.

"Got that right!" Don Patch chimed in, hopping forward and holding up a clenched fist. "All of the guests were supposed to bring an appetizer!"

Victor prepared to clobber Don Patch for this comment, only to be interrupted when something whizzed by them, almost taking Victor's head off and causing his eyes to widen as the large projectile whistled off into the distance. "Th-they're firing at us!" Tails shouted in a panic, quickly hitting the ground and covering his head with his hands.

"N-now, stay calm everyone," Chopper responded, looking around at the group nervously. "The zeppelin we got is armored and has weapons of its own! We'll be just fine!"

From the sides of the zeppelin, a few cannons pointed out, shooting several blasts towards the oncoming ship. All of them impacted, generating a large dust cloud upon impact. "Score one for the good guys!" Victor called confidently, smirking and holding up a fist.

The dragon's comment was proven wrong not a moment later when the smoke was parted, revealing the enemy ship, which was completely unscathed. "I-it didn't work?" Chopper shouted in shock, his eyes widening in terror.

"Some leader you are," Victor mumbled flatly, watching as what looked to be several harpoons were fired from the opposing ship. Everyone hit the deck as the spears impacted the side of the zeppelin. The ship was slowly reeled in towards the enemy ship, which the group now noticed was colored almost completely green, and seemed to have a slightly more mechanical appearance. "That's...an airship?" Victor echoed in curiosity.

Before the group could say much else, several bridges were lowered towards the zeppelin, smashing onto the deck and forcing the foursome into a defensive position. Sseveral armored figures began charging from the bridges, surrounding the group; on first appearance, they vaguely had the appearance of turtles, in gray, spiky armor. "What are...these?" Tails murmured worriedly.

"Ingredients for mah spicy turtle shell gumbo, that's what!" Don Patch responded, adopting a hillbilly accent and overalls, only to be silenced when the banjo he had pulled from nowhere was smashed over his head by Victor.

"I think..." Chopper mumbled lowly, narrowing his gaze. "No doubt about it; these are Koopatrol!"

"Wha?" Victor mumbled blankly, only to be silenced when a whip was ensnared around his arm. The dragon looked around at the armored turtle that had lashed at him, snarling, "You'll need to try harder than that!"

With a mighty tug, Victor yanked the Koopatrol forward, only for the turtle to abruptly curl into its shell. Victor blinked in shock, the armored reptile smashing into his chest and knocking the dragon to the ground. "Victor!" Tails gasped in shock, only to find several whips lashed at him, completely binding the fox and knocking him to the ground.

"Leave them alone!" Chopper let out a roar, abruptly reverting to his Heavy Point and charging towards the turtles that had bound Tails. They looked around at this, just in time for several figures to swoop out of the airship; on closer inspection, they appeared to be similar in structure to the Koopatrol, only foregoing the armor for blue robes and a broomstick on which they flew about; add to this their now yellow-colored skin was now visible. "What the?"

The robed turtles each lifted up a wand, flinging them forward and shooting several blasts of energy towards the deck. Chopper was forced to stagger back to avoid being caught in the explosion; this, however, left him open to be bound next. The reindeer struggled for a moment, reverting back to his Brain Point to slip through. He lifted up his hooves in victory, cheering, "Hah! You didn't get me!"

The Koopatrol glanced at each other, abruptly ensnaring Chopper while he was distracted with his supposed victory, dragging the reindeer to the ground next to the struggling Tails. Victor had by this point staggered back to his feet, snarling, "Tch, pitiful..." The dragon pulled out his sword, gripping it and shouting, "Patch! Get ready!"

In response to this, however, Don Patch abruptly tackled Victor, knocking him to the ground and abruptly tying him - and Don Patch himself - up together. "They can't get us while we're protected by these special ropes!" the orange blob remarked cheerily.

"YOU'RE WORTHLESS!" Victor shouted angrily, thrashing about in his bindings.

Seeing that their targets were bound, the Koopatrols and wizards stepped to the side as one more, much larger, bridges was lowered onto the zeppelin, the force of it cracking the deck slightly. Another figure proceeded to step forward; another of the wizards, though this one wore purple robes, and seemed to be a female with gray hair. She reached into her robe, coughing, and then called out, "May I introduce...his most Rancidness, the King of the Koopas himself, Lord Bowser!"

Victor and his team looked up, noticing a rather large figure, almost eight feet tell, step forward. It was an even larger and more ominous-looking variation of the turtles, without armor or robes. However, he was noticeably muscular, and his green-colored shell was covered in spikes. His skin, like the others, was yellow, and a pair of black, spiked bracers were worn around his ankles and wrists. The large turtle smirked widely, another, smaller turtle hopping to his side; it looked to be a much smaller version of the larger turtle, about the size of the three-foot tall footsoldiers. All of the Koopatrol and wizards bowed at this, Victor scowling. "Never heard of ya."

The large figure, Bowser, frowned in displeasure, the purple robed turtle and the smaller one leaning forward in irritation. "Insolent whelp! Pay your better the respect he deserves!"

"Yeah! Daddy won't take that kinda lip from you!"

A low growl from Bowser. "Kammy...Junior...shut it."

Both looked around to Bowser, the robed turtle bowing. "My apologies, your Evilness..."

"Sorry Daddy..." the other turtle mumbled, looking down.

Bowser dismissed this with a wave of his claw, beginning to lumber down the bridge, the ground trembling with each step he took and causing Tails to shiver in fright. "Now then..." Bowser stepped down onto the zeppelin, his smirk returning. "What was that you were sayin', lizard?"

"I'm not a LIZARD," Victor snarled in irritation. "I'm a dragon, you overgrown swamp critter."

Bowser growled lowly, scooping up Victor, and in the process, Don Patch, by their ropes. "I'll give ya one last chance to-"

"He said no, ya got it?" Don Patch shouted, squirming around in his bindings.

A few moments passed in silence, Bowser abruptly plowing both of them into the deck of the zeppelin, unearthing several wooden planks in the process. "Aw, we just fixed there!" Chopper moaned.

Bowser leaned back up, Victor and Don Patch still in his grasp. "Get 'em to the ship!"

All of the soldiers nodded, the robed turtle and miniature Bowser grasping Tails and Chopper, dragging them up the bridge and onto the deck of Bowser's ship. Once everyone was off board and the bridges were drawn, Bowser turned back to the zeppelin, smirking and looking at Victor and Don Patch. "Allow me to show you what you're up against."

With this comment, Bowser took a breath, a faint orange light beginning to gather from in his throat. Roaring in a primal fashion, Bowser fired a rather large fireball towards the balloon holding it up. The attack went right through the armor plating, causing the balloon to explode, following through with the rest of the ship. Everyone watched in horror, Don Patch glancing at Victor. "Why can't you breath fire like that, Mr. Dragon?"

Bowser turned back to the others, tossing Victor and Don Patch to the ground. "Here's how it's gonna be," he began, folding his arms and jerking his head towards the purple-robed turtle. "Kammy, tell 'em how it's gonna be."

The robed turtle, apparently Kammy, cleared her throat. "Er...yes, your Burningness." She turned to the others, explaining, "We're going to hold you lot hostage. With a bit of convincing, we'll get the Lunar Guild to give us the Lunar Essence in exchange for you!"

A few moments passed in silence. "Whuzzat?" Victor asked bluntly.

All of the footsoldiers sweatdropped, the miniature Bowser leaping forward and yelling angrily, "You don't know what the Lunar Essence is? Man, you're stupid!"

"Junior!" Bowser barked, causing his son to shrink back.

Kammy sighed in irritation, turning to Victor. "The Lunar Essence is the cornerstone of the Lunar Guild's power, an artifact of unimaginable force that is closely guarded by the Guild!"

"And what's more, the Twilight Society and Solar Faction have one as well," Bowser added, lifting up a claw with a smirk and clenching his fist. "We're going to acquire them all."

Chopper blinked in shock. _"Does this have to do with Orochimaru...?"_ he thought to himself.

Victor scowled. "Tch, well you can forget that. We won't give in to your demands, and neither will our superior!"

"Besides..." Tails added, the group glancing at him. "You've got one of the Lunar Guild's generals, and three random soldiers...and based on what you've told us about this Lunar Essence, I doubt that they'll give it over to you with JUST us."

All of them fell silent, Bowser glancing at Kammy, who looked up at him worriedly. "Th-the reindeer is one of their highest ranking officers, someone that important should be enough to warrant their concern!" the witch replied defensively, lifting up her hands.

Bowser growled lowly. "Fine, fine...but if this doesn't work, I blame you."

He pointed at Kammy accusingly before stomping back into the cabin, leaving the soldiers, Kammy, and Bowser Jr. on the deck. The soldiers glanced at each other, Kammy clearing her throat. "Perhaps if we were to rough 'em up a little, that'd help Guildmaster Silver realize the situation he's in," Kammy suggested.

Bowser Jr. smirked evilly. "Oohh, some good old fashioned torture? I like the sound of that!"

Victor scowled, retorting back, "Tch, if you think that's gonna work, you're dead wrong!"

Kammy chuckled to herself. "We'll see about that." With this comment, she lifted up a wand, causing it to glow brightly and causing three circles of light to begin gathering over each of the bound figures. Suddenly, in between each, what looked to be a large yellow block began appearing, growing to a rather large size and causing Tails and Chopper's eyes to widen. The blocks abruptly landed on the ground, squashing them underneath with a loud crasj. Kammy continued to smirk. "That ought to keep 'em quiet for a little bit."

A few moments passed in silence; underneath the blocks, Tails and Chopper were groaning from the exertion, their faces reddening in pain. Victor, however, had Don Patch directly on top of him, resulting in the orange blob getting the majority of the force, allowing the dragon to try and get himself into a standing position. However, with the weight of the block, this was very difficult. Kammy folded her arms, Bowser Jr. approaching Chopper's block and bending down to see the reindeer. "Had enough yet?"

The reindeer growled, slowly turning to his Heavy Point to try and get his block off of him. "N-...not on your life..."

Bowser Jr. frowned. "We can keep goin' all day with this." He snapped his fingers. "Kammy!"

The witch lifted her wand again, generating another block over each of them. All of them impacted with a dull thud, Chopper forced back onto the ground while a suppressed yelp came from Tails before immediately being silenced. Victor and Don Patch were pushed further, the dragon growling as he tried to stand up once more. Bowser Jr. furrowed his brow. "Hmph...we don't wanna kill 'em...but they're not yielding."

Kammy looked back at Bowser Jr. "If we were to put another on them, it might completely crush them...well, the fox, at least."

Chopper's eyes widened as Bowser Jr. waved his hand around. "Ah, you remember what Daddy said, right? The reindeer's the most valuable one. And besides, a casualty or two might truly prove that we're not messing around!"

The robed turtle rubbed her chin in thought, smiling. "Hm...good idea, young Prince. You're just as sinister as your father."

"Oohh, go on..." Bowser Jr. mumbled bashfully, snickering to himself and pointing at the group. "One more block! I wanna see some pancakes!"

Kammy lifted up her wand once again, a third block appearing over each of the stacks. Right before they could impact, however, all three were abruptly smashed to pieces by an invisible force, causing Kammy and Bowser Jr. to gasp. "Huh?"

Within another instant, a gust tore through the area, the other six blocks being smashed to pieces as well, allowing for Chopper and Victor to stand up, though the now bloodied Tails remained mortionless on the ground. "Who's there?" Kammy demanded angrily.

A gust proceeded to wind through the area, Victor furrowing his brow cautiously. "This feels...familiar..."

Finally, all eyes went to the mast at the top of the ship, allowing for four figures to be seen standing on it. "If you wanted to torture them, you could've at least done it right."

Victor's eyes widened upon noticing the one at the front; a familiar, gray-furred wolf with a billowing black cloak. Next to him was a somewhat short, black-furred creature with an uncanny resemblance to Silver, save for less dramatized spikes sticking from his head and red stripes running along the top of each. On the other side was a mostly blue-furred dog-like creature, a yellow-furred torso with a spike protruding from his chest, and the top of each of his palms, as well as a pair of long, pointed ears reminiscent of a jackal. The last of them was a somewhat short human boy with long, blond hair tied into a braid at the back, a red cloak on top of black outfit. "You...Raibaru!"

The wolf stared at Victor with disdain, Kammy and Bowser Jr. growling in irritation. "What's he doing here?" Don Patch shouted, managing to recover from nearly being crushed.

"Saving us, from the looks of it!" Chopper snapped back.

The wolf closed his eyes. "Seems they did quite a number on the little fox," the human boy remarked, bending down and looking at Tails. "Ah, he should be just fine. Raibaru, Lucario, deal with the Prince and the witch."

Raibaru and the jackal nodded, abruptly leaping down from their perch and landing in front of Victor's team, facing off with Kammy and Bowser Jr. The black-furred hedgehog and the boy leaped down as well, the former stepping towards Tails and flopping him onto his back. "...yes, he's still alive."

"Get to work on him, Shadow," the boy responded, proceeding to undo the ropes around Victor and Don Patch.

Chopper turned to the boy, murmuring, "You're...from the Twilight Society, right?"

The boy responded with a smirk, jerking a thumb to himself. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist and lead commander of the Twilight Society. That's me alright!"

Victor glanced at Edward with a scowl, Raibaru unsheathing his katana just enough for a little bit of the blade to show from its sheath. "We didn't ask for your help," Victor scowled, glaring at Raibaru. "Butt out!"

Raibaru didn't turn around to face him. "Quite honestly...I didn't even want to come. But this was a direct order from the Twilight Monarch, to ensure that you and your team made it to Twilight Plains. And I NEVER disobey a direct order without reason."

Victor growled lowly, Raibaru narrowing his gaze as the jackal, Lucario, lifted his paws, both beginning to glow a faint blue. "Insolent little pup...you dare stand against the might of the Koopa Troop?" Kammy growled, pointing her wand at Raibaru.

Bowser Jr. proceeded to reach behind him, abruptly pulling out what appeared to be an oversized paintbrush, bearing a resemblance to a staff-like weapon. "We'll show you what happens to those that get in our way!"


	15. Unwelcome Help

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 15-Unwelcome Help

The air became charged with tension as Raibaru and Lucario retained their stances, seemingly unperturbed when Bowser Jr. abruptly swung his paintbrush around, sending a wave of rainbow-colored paint splattering to the ground in front of them. Several humanoid figures wielding the same staff-like weapon slowly crawled up, Raibaru letting out a slight sigh. "Hmph..."

With one seemingly careless swing, Raibaru generated a gust of wind that sliced apart the paint clones, Bowser Jr. grunting and quickly holding up his staff to block Raibaru's incoming stroke. The wolf made several more hasty slashes, Bowser Jr. spinning his staff around in an attempt to deflect each strike. Every motion splattered more paint all over the ground, summoning several more clones that began lunging at Raibaru from behind. The wolf looked around at this, abruptly spinning around and generating a large gust that sliced all of the clones apart and knocked Bowser Jr. backwards, the Koopa prince landing back on his feet. "If you want to be useful, deal with those clones," Raibaru mumbled, casting a momentary glance at Victor, Chopper, and Don Patch.

Victor scowled at this, Don Patch holding up a fist and retorting, "We don't need to take orders from you!"

"Focus, you two!" Chopper growled, quickly reverting to Heavy Point and beginning to smash through the clones, sending bits of paint splattering everywhere.

The two once again folded their arms, turning their noses away at the fight and glancing slightly at Kammy and Lucario as they stared off, the elderly Koopa still pointing her wand threateningly at Lucario, who kept his stance the same, not moving an inch. After several more moments, she finally began yelling, "WHY DON'T YOU MOVE?"

No response from Lucario, prompting Kammy to growl and lift up her glowing wand. "Tch, fine by me! Take this!"

A lightning bolt abruptly dropped from above, impacting Lucario and causing the image of the jackal to vanish. Kammy's eyes widened. "A clone?"

With this comment, the real Lucario appeared behind Kammy, abruptly plowing a blue-flamed covered foot into her back, knocking her toppling backwards and hitting the mast of the ship. She looked up slightly as Lucario returned to his former stance, the Magikoopa lifting up her magic wand once again. "You won't get me with the same move twice!"

She shot several more blasts of energy towards Lucario, the Aura Pokemon expertly dodging each blow with ease, one of them exploding near Shadow as he worked on Tails, one being blocked by Edward before it could land a direct hit. "Hey! Watch where you're aiming at!" he retorted in irritation.

This comment was interrupted with a low groan, Edward turning around to Tails, who began shifting about before groggily opening his eyes. "Oh hey, you're finally awake."

"What...happened..." he groaned lowly, trying to sit up, only for shadow to push him back down.

"You're not in working condition just yet," the hedgehog responded bluntly. "Stay down."

The fox blinked groggily, the image of the black creature seemingly waking him up further. "Shadow...? What're you doing here?"

Shadow stood up at this, turning back to the battle, where Raibaru and Lucario were handling their respective enemies with ease. "Ensuring that your team makes it to your destination. Twilight Monarch's orders."

"Twilight Monarch?" Tails echoed in curiosity, trying to sit up once more. "You're...part of the Twilight Society?"

Shadow didn't give a response to this, instead abruptly lifting a hand and summoning what looked to be several needles of green energy in between his fingers. "Let's save explanations for later," Edward responded, looking around at the crowd of Koopatrols that had gathered around them. "We've got bigger problems at the moment."

Tails gulped in anxiety as, on the other side of the ship, Raibaru continued to almost completely overwhelm Bowser Jr., each paint clone being summoned just as quickly dispatched by Chopper. The two combatants finally locked weapons, Bowser Jr. grunting, "Ggh...you're...troublesome..."

"Give it up," Raibaru murmured bluntly, narrowing his gaze and pushing down a little more on Bowser Jr. "You're purely outmatched in skill, and your numbers mean nothing."

With this comment, Raibaru finally delivered an upwards kick, knocking Bowser Jr. in the jaw and sending him flying into the air. Raibaru slammed his hilt onto Bowser Jr.'s face, knocking him into the ground with a crash that uprooted a few of the boards. The smaller Koopa let out a low groan, Kammy turning from her duel with a gasp. "Prince!"

Before she could turn her attention back to the fight, Lucario had stepped forward, a ball of blue energy forming in his paws. Kammy turned around slightly, Lucario finally uttering, "Aura Sphere..."

The Aura Pokemon abruptly sent the sphere crashing into Kammy, causing it to explode and send her toppling back, smashing into a few boxes, now unconscious. Chopper straightened himself out, flicking the paint from his knuckles. "Alright, you two're done..." He turned back to Bowser Jr., stepping next to Raibaru. "It's about time you got to explaining yourselves."

Despite the current predicament, Bowser Jr. instead smirked. "Oh, I won't be explaining anything..." With this comment, the little Koopa took a breath, and abruptly screamed," DAAAAAAAAAAAADDY!"

Not seconds later, Bowser literally crashed through the cabin, sending bits of splintered wood everywhere and hitting Don Patch with the door. "WHAT? WHAT'S GOIN' ON OUT HERE?"

"The prisoners are escaping!" Bowser Jr. shouted, pointing at those gathered on the deck.'

Bowser abruptly looked at them, viewing the current scene with a blank stare. "...what happened here?"

With this comment, Edward proceeded to point towards Bowser, calling, "Lord Bowser, king of the Koopas, we're taking you in!"

The large turtle blinked as Edward clapped his hands together, creating an unusual echo effect as he planted his palms on the ground. The result was several bolts of lightning flying from it as the wood of the deck began shifting itself about, abruptly wrapping around Bowser in an attempt to bind him. Victor and Don Patch both blinked with a blank stare at this feat, Tails murmuring lowly, "Th-that was..."

Edward managed a low smirk as Bowser looked down at his binding, letting out a rather toothy grin in response. "Heh. You think a bunch of wood will be enough to keep me down?"

Bowser proceeded to let out a loud roar, abruptly smashing right through his bindings and sending several bits of wood flying everywhere. Before they could make another response, Bowser had abruptly plowed a fist into Edward, sending him crashing into the mast, actually knocking it over onto the deck, forcing Shadow to quickly move Tails from the impact zone. Everyone blinked slightly, Victor mumbling, "Huh. Guess all that size isn't just for show."

"So?" Don Patch retorted with a smirk, lunging forward. "I'll give him a beating he won't soon forget!"

Bowser looked around slightly as Don Patch lunged forward, quickly beginning to weakly slap Bowser's knee, leaning back slightly as he did so. "Take that! And that! And that! And that!"

Everyone stared at this exchange for several moments, Bowser slowly looking down at Don Patch with a frown. "The hell are you doing?"

"We don't know," Victor mumbled, him, Chopper, and Tails all giving an exasperated shrug.

Bowser continued to stare at Don Patch, finally picking him up in between two of his claws. Don Patch continued to swing his hands around in a frenzy, Bowser murmuring, "Hey, pipsqueak. Stop it."

Don Patch finally stopped his flailing, staring at Bowser blankly. "Stop?" A few more moments passed, and Don Patch abruptly screamed, plowing a foot into Bowser's face. "I DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WOOOOOOOOORD!"

"That much is obvious," Victor responded flatly, Bowser falling onto his back with a low crash as Don Patch landed.

"Ggh..." the large turtle growled, suddenly retracting his limbs and spinning around, further tearing apart the deck and sending bits of wood flying everywhere. The momentum allowed Bowser to return back to his feet, skidding with a growl. "Damn pest..."

Don Patch held up his fists at this, Lucario preparing to step forward. However, Raibaru held his katana in the way, mumbling, "Not yet."

The Aura Pokemon glanced at him slightly, Don Patch lunging at Bowser once again. "Take thiiiiiiiiis!"

Before he could land an attack, Bowser lifted a fist, smashing Don Patch into the deck and sending him flying through the floor...and several more floors, actually creating a sizeable hole in the entire ship. Everyone stared down it blankly, Tails gasping, "D-...Don Patch!"

"Huh. Guess I don't know my own strength," Bowser commented blankly.

At this time, a rather loud groan was heard from all around, the ship giving a slight lurch and almost knocking everyone off their feet. "Wh-what was that?" Chopper gasped in fright.

"The ship can't take this much damage!" Tails responded, slowly staggering back to his feet. "It's gonna go down!"

True to his words, the ship gave another lurch, quickly beginning to lose altitude. "Dammit!" Bowser growled, looking around and scooping up Bowser Jr. and Kammy, glaring at the group. "This isn't the last time we'll meet!"

With this comment, the large turtle hopped off of the edge, only to float back up, now riding in some sort of dome-like cart with the image of a clown face on it. "See ya, shrimps!" Bowser called, the hovercraft flying off.

"Dammit!" Victor growled, watching as the ship began collapsing in on itself, splitting in half and dropping the group towards the hole in the middle. "Now what?"

"Shadow," Raibaru mumbled, the black hedgehog nodding.

A light green light began collecting around the group, Tails blinking in surprise and cringing, as if he knew what was about to happen. "Brace yourselves!"

"Chaos...Control!" With this shout, a bright green flash of light enveloped, causing everyone to abruptly vanish as the rest of the ship fell apart, exploding in a brilliant display.


	16. And Now, Something Completely Different

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 16-And Now, For Something Completely Different

The same battle-torn wasteland as before. The same felled ogre creature. There was no doubt about it; Victor was dreaming again. The odd part...it was the exact same dream he had been having. The dragon knew his dreams weren't nearly this repetitive...maybe it was a sign? Either way, he followed through with the same routine and planted a flag into the hard-packed ground, looking around with a smirk.

And...like before...the dark clouds rolled in. Victor looked up with a frown, narrowing his gaze. "This...again...?" Now he KNEW something was up.

The dragon quickly stepped back as some bolts of lighting streaked across the sky, followed by some tearing apart the ground. Victor hastily avoided them as they came for him, in the process roasting the flag he had planted earlier. He blinked as he looked up at the burning flag, the flames forming into something perched at the top. Victor assumed it was a person; a very short one, but an intelligent being nonetheless. They stood up, wide, yellow eyes staring at him. "Hey! What's going on here?" the dragon ordered in irritation.

The figure didn't say a word, instead pointing upwards. Victor followed his direction, noticing the clouds beginning to form over him. The dragon clenched his fists, growling, "You're the one that's causing this, huh?" The figure blinked in surprise as Victor charged forward, roaring, "Get the hell outta here!"

With this comment, the figure disappeared in a puff of smoke, Victor coming to a stop. His attention was diverted by something above; a clawed hand extending from the clouds, a pair of piercing yellow eyes accompanying them. The dragon growled, clenching his fists in preparation for a fight.

"VICTOR!"

The dragon suddenly found himself snapping back to reality when something moist smacked him in the cheek. "Ow!"

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Don Patch's frantic shouts were accompanying by the same moist object smacking Victor in the face several more times. The dragon growled and tried to snatch it away, however, he was beaten to the punch by Chopper, who snatched Don Patch's weapon - a fish - out of his hand and knocked the orange blob to the ground with said object.

Sighing in irritation, Chopper glanced back at Victor, asking, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Aside from the fact that I smell like low tide? Pretty good," Victor responded sarcastically, taking a moment to look at their surroundings. Nothing but pale, yellowed grass and gnarled trees as far as he could see. The sky was still pitch black with glowing clouds hanging overhead; they must still have been in Twilight Plains. Victor looked around a little more; the demolished remains of their zeppelin and Bowser's ship were nearby. Raibaru and his team were going through the wreckage; being reminded that they had saved him made Victor's skin crawl.

Victor's attention was torn when Chopper cleared his throat, Tails now approaching. "Twilight Castle's nearby, alright, and-" The fox turned to Victor. "Oh, you're awake. That's good."

The dragon frowned, staggering to his feet and grumbling, "Can someone PLEASE explain to me what's going on?"

Chopper rubbed the back of his head with a slight blush. "R-right. Anyway, we managed to escape Bowser's ship exploding because of some 'Chaos Control' thing...we landed around this area, but you were knocked out cold."

"I guess space-time warp travel was a little too much for you," Tails commented, earning a deadly glare from Victor that forced him to hide behind Chopper.

"Anyway, we landed, pretty coincidentally, in the area we were supposed to be looking around," Chopper explained, folding his hooves. "Now that we're here, we, as in us and Raibaru's team, are gonna search the area for clues."

Victor scowled at this and folded his arms. "Tch. I thought this was OUR mission, not theirs!"

"Actually..." Tails murmured, slowly poking his head from behind Chopper's hat. "It WAS their mission...we were brought in as backup."

"Backup? There is no way in hell I am going to act as BACKUP!" Victor practically screamed, stomping on the ground. "If anything, they're OUR backup!"

Chopper proceeded to smack Victor with Don Patch's fish. "Victor, calm down!" the reindeer called scoldingly. "The bottom line is that they're working with us to find the missing soldiers!"

Victor scowled and rubbed his chin, muttering lowly, "Did you have to use the fish...?"

"Hey!" The trio turned back towards the wreckage, finding Edward beckoning them forward. "We found something!"

All three staggered towards them, finding one of the Koopa wizards lying amongst the wreckage, unconscious. "We found this Magikoopa left behind," Shadow explained, folding his arms.

Victor smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Perfect. We can force some answers out of him."

The Koopa mage let out a low groan, slowly returning to the waking world, only to be bound by chains. "Alright, where is it?" Don Patch suddenly shouted, now sitting at a randomly spawned table with a cigar in his mouth.

"Wh-wha?" the Magikoopa stammered in confusion, Don Patch slamming his palms against the table.

"Don't play games with me! You know where the stash is, and I'm not gonna let you go 'til you tell us where it is!" the orange blob ordered.

The Magikoopa leaned back in shock, Victor grabbing the table and smashing it into Don Patch's face. "NOT HELPING!"

Raibaru had, at this time, turned to the Magikoopa, narrowing his gaze. "The missing soldiers. Where are they? I suggest you comply..." He shifted about the katana around his waist. "...unless you want to taste steel."

This seemed to seriously unnerve the Magikoopa, Edward folding his arms with a slight frown. "Don't get carrried away, Raibaru..."

"I dunno, I actually like that idea," Victor responded with an evil smirk, the duo towering over the Magikoopa maliciously. Chopper and Edward both facepalmed in exasperation.

"A-alright, I'll talk!" the Magikoopa called in a panic, squirming about in his bindings. "A-A nearby tower, ran by four of Lord bowser's top henchman! Just please let me goooooo!"

"We're gonna need more specifics than that," Edward responded, folding his arms with a slight frown.

The Magikoopa pursed his lips with a gulp, only to finally frown and turn away. "If you think I'll be dumb enough to tell you the incantation to get the tower to appear, then you're mistaken!"

Tails blinked. "It requires an incantation?"

Only now realizing what he said, the Magikoopa pursed his lips shut, Don Patch shouting, "Now we're getting somewhere!" He proceeded to go through the mage's robes, finally pulling out the wand. "I've got his rattle!"

Edward abruptly snatched the wand from Don Patch, looking it over. "Hmm...I'll bet we could use this to help us get into the tower. We just need the incantation."

"Hahaha! I lied! It doesn't need an incantation!" the Magikoopa shouted, now sounding almost demented while squirming in his bindings. "Not one that involves commands, not one that involves waving, not one that needs both, none of 'em!"

Edward furrowed his brow at this, looking at the group. "Who here has experience in magic?"

"Ooohhh, let meeeeee!" Don Patch shouted, hopping forward, now dressed in what looked to be a fairy outfit, complete with wings. "I'll be able to figure it out!"

The group stared at him, Edward tossing the object to him. "Meh, whatever."

"A-are you sure about that?" Chopper asked with a slight tinge of worry. "Don Patch isn't exactly the most...stable of people."

"What've we got to lose?" Edward asked with a shrug.

"Many things," Victor responded bluntly, everyone's attention turned to a nearby boulder, which Don Patch, now dressed in robes and a rather lengthy beard, was standing on, wand held aloft.

"THOU...SHALT...NOT...HIDE!" he shouted rather dramatically, smashing the wand down on the boulder and causing the gem on the end to shatter, releasing several stray bolts of lightning.

A few moments passed in silence. "YOU MORON!" Victor roared, beginning to bash Don Patch into the boulder repeatedly.

The group was too preoccupied with Victor's thrashing to notice something going on nearby, though Lucario seemed to be the first to notice. Raibaru, Shadow, and Edward slowly turned to a portion of the ground where the grass was becoming hazy, extending to the air. Shadow grabbed a hold of Tails' head and forcefully turned it to the area of effect, the fox blinking in shock. "G-guys? I think it worked..."

Victor, Don Patch, and Chopper glanced at where the air was distorting, Victor dropping Don Patch to the ground as something appeared; a large, gray-colored tower extending upwards. A few moments passed in silence, Edward clapping his hands together. "Well, best not keep the captives waiting! Let's go inside."

"W-wait! What about me?" the Magikoopa called in alarm, still thrashing about in his bindings.

Everyone turned towards him. "When we get back, we'll take him prisoner," Shadow responded as-a-matter-of-factly, the group opening the tower doors and stepping inside.

The interior of the tower was rather dark, not to mention bland. A single spiralling pathway was erected on the sides of the walls, doors visible along the pathways. "Well...something tells me we found our prisoners," Victor commented, the door behind them abruptly slamming shut.

Don Patch rushed back to the door and began beating on it, shouting, "W-wait! Don't leave me in here! I'm too important to be locked away like this!"

This comment was met with a loud, booming roar-like laughing sound, prompting everyone to look around. "So! You've found my hidden prison tower, have you? That doesn't matter! Because now I, King Bowser, now have you in my clutches!"

Victor snarled at this, clenching his fists. "Oh yeah? Come ou here and say that, you overgrown coward!"

"Very well then! Try not to be overwhelmed by ou-...I mean, my sheer amount of awesomeness!"

Tails wrinkled his nose at this, mumbling, "Is it just me...or does this seem a little fishy to you?"

Victor rolled his eyes. "That'd be me. Thanks a lot Don Patch."

"Nooooo problem!" the orange blob responded, slapping Victor on the back.

During this time, another thunderous roar was heard, something falling from above and landing with a crash in front of them; it was indeed Bowser. Well...a crudely made sculpture of him, that is. Indeed, the object before them resembled a cardboard robot of the Koopa King on wheels, not at all believable in the least. "Bwahaha! Tremble, fools!" "Bowser" roared out.

"T-t-t-trembling!" Chopper squealed, now hiding behind Victor in fright.

The dragon stared off at the crudely made clone with an exasperated expression, mumbling, "You've GOT to be kidding me..."

"Are we supposed to believe that's Bowser?" Shadow asked with a sigh.

"Yes! You are!" "Bowser" responded, only for this to be meant with a dull thunk and a barely audible grunt, seemingly coming from inside of the clone's body.

Everyone sweatsdropped slightly at this, interrupted when Don Patch lunged forward. "There it is!" He landed on the head of the Bowser clone, shouting, "My arts and crafts project! I thought I'd lost you!"

"Wha...hey! Get off, you pest!" the clone shouted, the wheels underneath it beginning to twist about in an attempt to get him off.

"Now's our chance!" Victor shouted, charging forward; at this time, however, the clone had managed to throw Don Patch off, as well as its entire head. The dragon came to a stop with a slight blink as Don Patch was thrown into him, knocking the dragon to the ground.

"Dammit! I told you the head wasn't screwed on all the way!"

"Hey, that was Yellow's job, don't blame me!"

"It was screwed on right! I swear!"

"Obviously NOT!"

The sound of several bashing noises was heard from inside the clone, Tails stepping forward and snapping his fingers, summoning a small, white mouse-like object in his palm. "As funny as this is to watch, we're kinda on a mission here..." the fox mumbled, setting the mouse on the ground and allowing it to scuttle towards the Bowser clone.

Once the mouse was underneath it, the device abruptly exploded in a fiery display, sending bits of the shattered Bowser statue flying outwards and forcing everyone to duck to avoid being hit. Amidst the smoke, four figures hit the ground with a thud, the smoke finally clearing to reveal what they looked like. Four turtles, not unlike those seen on Bowser's ship, though they didn't wear any armor, only shells and shoes alongside a pair of gloves and bandanas around their eyes, all of which were a different color. One red, one black, one green, and one yellow.

The red turtle finally stood up with a cough, grunting, "Whoa...that was dyno-mite..."

"Alright," Edward called, stepping forward and folding his arms. "It's time we took you in for questioning."

In response to this, the red turtle blinked, abruptly hopping to his feet, soon accompanied by the other three. "I think not!" the red turtle called. "Do you even know who we are?"

"Not a clue," Victor responded flatly, prompting the four turtles to fall over in exasperation.

"Well, since you don't allow us to fill you in!" the red Koopa called, all four striking a pose and giving a thumbs up, the tips of their thumbs seemingly sparkling.

"Yellow Ninjakoopa!"

"Green Ninjakoopa!"

"Black Ninjakoopa!"

"And Red Ninjakoopa!" All four abruptly pointed forward, their fingers giving off another sparkle. "The coolest and most awesome of Lord Bowser's men! Together, we are...the Koopa Bros.!"

Everyone stared with a blank expression, a low whistling from the plains outside leaking in through the walls and upsetting some dust. "That was...stupid," Victor finally uttered bluntly.

"If we're done clowning around," Raibaru uttered, stepping forward and unsheathing his katana slightly. "We're going to be bringing you in now. I suggest you come quietly."

All four Koopas smirked. "Hah! You hoenstly think we'll bend to the likes of you?" Black responded, all four of them crouching down as Red pointed forward.

"We'll show you why we're the greatest of the Koopa Troop! Koopa Bros., charge!"


	17. Here Come the Koopa Bros!

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 17-Here Come the Koopa Bros.!

With this comment, Victor and Don Patch abruptly charged forward, both shouting rapidly. Everyone blinked in shock, Chopper shouting, "S-stop, you dolts!"

Smirking, the Koopa Bros. proceeded to curl up into their shells, spinning around at a high speed. Victor and Don Patch both lunged forth, only for the four turtles to quickly shoot forward, hammering the duo before they could move and ricocheting off, knocking them to the ground. "What...was that...?" Victor snarled, looking up as the Koopa Bros. bounced off of the walls, ricocheting back towards them.

"Here they come again!" Edward shouted, holding up his arms as one of the koopas smashed into him, the teen quickly holding up his arms and blocking the attack; a portion of his jacket was shredded in the process, revealing a mechanical right arm in its place. The koopa, Ninjakoopa Black, skidded to a halt, looking up. "Tch...you ripped my coat," the teen grunted lowly.

Black curled into his shell once again, shooting towards the teen, who clapped his hands together. He quickly planted both palms on the ground, generating a large trail of electricity that suddenly caused several pillars to shoot out of the ground, knocking Black into the air. "Whooooaaaaaa?"

Edward looked up at this, only now taking notice of Red appearing above Black, tucking out of his shell and spinning around. "I don't think so!" With one powerful kick, Red sent his brother hurtling at a high speed towards Edward, the teen quickly hopping back as the koopa impacted the ground with a crash. He bounced right off, headed for Edward, only for Raibaru to quickly appear in the way, knocking the koopa upwards with an upwards katana strike. This knocked Black off course, sending him toppling to the ground. "Thanks."

Raibaru landed effortlessly, closing his eyes as Green and Yellow continued to ricochet off of the walls harmlessly, only now dashing towards Tails and Chopper. The reindeer quickly morphed to Walk Point, scooping Tails out of the way and knocking the fox into the air; he then changed back to Brain Point to duck underneath both as they lunged at him, Tails righting himself in midair and spinning his namesakes to keep a good aerial view. He was, however, unaware of Red still bouncing off of the walls above, finally sending himself rocketing right for him. Chopper looked up slightly, shouting, "Tails, above you!"

The fox looked up to find Red whizzing towards him; with surprising flexibility, he managed to quickly maneuver around him, the turtle only barely grazing the fur of his stomach in the process but otherwise completely missing the fox. Red landed with a crash onto the ground, looking up with a blink and mumbling, "Whoa...I thought I had you!"

Tails righted himself, managing a small smirk and chuckling. "Sorry, but I'm used to keeping up with high-speed targets by this point."

Before Red could offer a rebuttal, he found a powerful kick landed into his back, causing the turtle to skid to a halt after slamming into the wall; the attacker was Shadow, who lowered his foot and narrowed his gaze. "I've dealt with forces even faster than you; and more dangerous too. You and your allies are nothing."

Red hopped back to his feet with a scowl, taking note of the other three Koopa Bros. stilll bouncing about, getting in position. He smirked, shouting, "We'll see about that!" He curled up into his shell, shooting forward and shouting, "Brothers, hit 'em from all sides!"

Shadow looked around, soon taking note of all four Koopas preparing to hammer at him from all sides. The black hedgehog closed his eyes, abruptly hopping up slightly to avoid; he was, instead, replaced in the impact by Don Patch, the orange blob letting out a strangled yelp before falling over. All four Koopa Bros. bounced off of Don Patch, headed straight up for Shadow, who quickly generated several glowing green spears in between his fingers. "Chaos Spear!"

He proceeded to fling them outwards, all of the spears abruptly exploding in the process and sending all four Koopa Bros. falling to the ground. Shadow himself quickly hopped back to the others' side, everyone regrouping with the exception of Don Patch. "Did we get 'em?" Chopper asked lowly.

Victor let out a slight grumble, Raibaru closing his eyes. "I must say, I'm all around unimpressed. You haven't improved at all since we last met; if anything, you've grown even more sluggish."

Despite nothing specific being said, Victor let out an irate growl, shouting, "Hey! It's not my fault I've never faced enemies like this!"

"Then get used to it," Raibaru uttered, glancing at the dragon with a condescending expression. "You're doing nothing but holding us back."

"What about me?" Don Patch abruptly asked, hopping forward and raising a hand. "How am I doing, teacher?"

Everyone stared at Don Patch for a moment, falling silent. "...worse. You're just getting in the way."

The orange blob took on a mortified expression, hitting his knees and crying loudly. "I don't believe it! I won't believe it! This can't be happening!"

During this time, the Koopa Bros. had finally gotten back to their feet, Green mumbling, "These guys...are tough..."

"What do we do, bro?" Yellow asked, glancing at Red with a slight pant.

The Red Ninjakoopa narrowed his gaze, gripping his fists. "We've got no choice, brothers...we've got to use..." He abruptly pointed forward, proclaiming loudly, "Our super secret special technique!"

The group turned back to them, Chopper letting out a slight gasp. "S-...super secret special technique...?"

"Bring it on," Victor remarked with a smirk, clenching his fists. "We can still take you down no matter what 'special techniques' you may have up your sleeves!"

"But they're not wearing sleeves," Don Patch pointed out, earning a glare from Victor.

With this comment, the Koopa Bros. abruptly hopped into the air, Yellow landing in a crouching position. Green then hopped on his back in the same position, followed by Black on top of him, and finally Red on top of him. The red koopa pointed forward, the tip of his finger sparkling for a moment. "Now you're going to see our true power!"

"They're...just standing on each others' shoulders..." Victor mumbled flatly. "Is that supposed to scare us?"

Red smirked at this, all four curling into their shells and spinning around; however, the seemingly increased speed caused them to spin even faster, becoming a blur and causing a slight wind to pick up. Edward frowned at this, murmuring, "Careful guys, they might mean business..."

"Well I mean business too," Don Patch responded, now in a suit with glasses and a moustache. He held up a briefcase and stepped towards the Koopa Bros., opening it and saying, "This is my first offer."

The inside of the briefcase was, however, filled with a variety of different baby toys, the others staring with a blank expression. "What...is he doing...?" Tails mumbled lowly.

A few more moments passed in silence, Don Patch quickly snapping the briefcase shut and yanking it away, shouting, "Well too bad! I didn't wanna give them to you anyway!"

Don Patch's comment was cut off when the Koopa Bros. abruptly shot forward at a near blinding speed, smashing into Don Patch and sending him flying to the side. The others quickly hopped out of the way, though they still felt the deceptively powerful wind current coming from the spinning Koopas' spinning as they smashed into the wall, generating a few cracks in the process. All of the warriors skidded to a halt, Chopper mumbling, "Th-that was fast..."

"And powerful," Edward remarked, clapping his hands together; the resulting electricity spread to his arm, suddenly morphing the metal on it into a blade. "Careful everyone, I don't like the looks of this!"

The Koopa Bros. abruptly shot forward once again, everyone avoiding yet again. Shadow took this time to fling several more Chaos Spears towards the tower of turtles, though they easily avoided. In his place, Lucario abruptly hurled forward a sizeable ball of blue energy towards them, generating a large explosion and shrouding the Koopa Bros. in smoke. Said smoke was, however, abruptly blown away when the Koopa tower hopped into the air, everyone looking up. "Y-you've got to be kidding me..." Victor mumbled bluntly.

With this comment, all of the Koopa Bros. abruptly separated, all beginning to ricochet off of the walls with increased speed and vigor from their previous momentum, smashing walls and causing some bits of rubble to fall. Don Patch was promptly smacked on the head with a falling piece of stone, Tails gasping, "If they keep up all of this reckless attacking, they're gonna bring the whole place down on top of us!"

"Works for me," Victor responded, quickly hopping out of the way of an incoming piece of rubble. "Hey! Ninja wannabes! Get your asses down here so I can kick 'em into the middle of next week!"

"Oohh, you have no idea what you're gettin' yourself into!" Red called, the Koopa Bros. quickly regrouping into their former tower position and shooting towards Victor. The dragon narrowed his gaze, quickly planting his feet into the ground and gripping his sword.

"We'll see about that..." he mumbled, lifting the weapon over his shoulders. The others let out a slight gasp as the Koopa Bros. made one final sprint for Victor, the dragon abruptly swinging his blade downwards rather swiftly. "Crescent Cut!"

The attack impacted the Koopa Bros. with a resounding smashing sound, the foursome abruptly knocked right out of their tower formation and sent flying past Victor, their momentum carrying them into the wall with a powerful crash. Everyone stared with a blank expression as Victor let out a slight pant, straightening himself out and setting his blade on his shoulder, smirking widely. "How was THAT for weak?"

Raibaru closed his eyes and turned away at this, uttering, "Lucky shot. They got overconfident."

"Say whateeeeeever you like, I just kicked their asses where you guys couldn't," Victor responded confidently, giving off a nonchalant shrug.

Chopper cleared his throat at this, mumbling, "Now's not the time to be overconfident Victor...we just barely got out of that one, so I suggest we-"

The reindeer's comment was cut off when another rock smacked him on the head, causing his top hat to be knocked down his head and covering his face. He tried to pry it off with a muffled grunt, everyone looking up at the now quickly crumbling tower. "This place is coming down!" Tails panicked, quickly headed for the door and banging on it wildly. "Hey! Someone get us out!"

Don Patch abruptly pulled the fox out of the way, smirking. "Allow me." With this comment, he spit on both hands, rubbing them together and thrusting them both forward, shouting, "Open sesame!"

Several moments passed by in silence, everyone staring at Don Patch with a blank expression. The orange blob copied the motion, spitting on both hands and slamming the palms against the door. "I said, OPEN SESAME!"

Once again, no response. "...SOMEONE LET US OUT PLEEEEAAAASE, I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE BURIED ALIVE!" Don Patch cried, banging on it frantically before slumping down into a crouching position, tears streaming down his face. "I always thought it'd happen when I was 47..."

Victor abruptly charged forward, ramming a shoulder into the wall. "If it's not gonna open, we're gonna knock it down!"

"G-good idea!" Chopper shouted, shifting to Heavy Point and joining Victor in ramming the door.

Tails let out a gulp as the tower gave another shudder, covering his head as Edward mumbled, "I, uh, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that isn't exactly working..."

"It's making things worse!" Tails yelped, hopping out of the way of an incoming boulder.

Victor and Chopper looked back at the group, Shadow turning to Edward. "Captain, if I may implore...couldn't you use your alchemical skill to manually open a path in the door for us? Or the WALLS for that matter?"

A few moments passed in silence, Edward blinking before frowning. "Couldn't YOU just use Chaos Control?"

"I COULD," the black hedgehog responded, folding his arms and turning away. "But no one mentioned it."

"Well maybe I was waiting until someone mentioend my alchemy before I actually used it," Edward responded as-a-matter-of-factly, mimicking the action and folding his arms.

"THEN DO IT!" Victor abruptly shouted; his comment was, however, abruptly interrupted by yet another loud crashing noise, the tower beginning to fall apart from the bottom, the ceiling quickly falling in and sending a large amount of stone falling towards them.

During this entire sequence, however, Don Patch seemed to remain completely stoic, his expression almost completely unlike his normal face. "I believe...everything happens for a reason..." he uttered lowly, the roof finally giving a loud crash a leaving the tower to completely fall apart.


	18. Arrival in Twilight Plains

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 18-Arrival in Twilight Plains

"Ya think they survived?"

"I think so, they were with Commander Elric's team. I doubt they'd have gotten crushed that easily."

A crowd had now gathered around the demolished remains of the prison tower the Koopa Bros. had been overseeing, some of them examining the rubble gingerly. "Out of my way! Coming through! Sorry, move!"

During this time, a few of the soldiers had moved out of the way for a rather tall figure, clad entirely in metal armor so that not a single bit of skin was showing, to push his way through. The figure's seemingly glowing red eyes scanned the wreckage, and he began stepping towards the rubble. "Brother? Brother, can you hear me?"

The uncharacteristically high-pitched figure went to move a rock; the instant he did so, however, a blue-colored claw shot out of the ground, causing him to yelp and stagger back. A few muffled shouts were heard underneath, prompting the armored figure to grab the hand. With a mighty tug, he aburptly yanked the dragon on the other side - Victor - out, flinging him backwards and smashing face-first into the ground. The figure winced and glanced after the dragon. "Oops! Sorry!"

Some more muffling was heard from nearby, prompting the armored figure to quickly rush over a unearth one of the rocks; underneath was Don Patch, who seemed to have struck an unusual, frozen, statuesque stance. "So I see you've found the magical statue of Hajike, young one!" the orange blob remarked. "I'm sure you know what this me-"

His comment was cut off when the armored figure tossed him to the side, Don Patch landing directly on top of Victor with a growl. "Hey! Watch where you're throwing things!"

The armored figure had finally come to a stop, having managed to unearth a spot in the middle of the rubble that showed the ground. "I think this oughta work..."

He proceeded to bend down, the soldiers standing by trying to pull the now fighting Victor and Don Patch apart. They were interrupted by what sounded like a loud, static noise, prompting them to look back over at the rubble. A bright light and several lightning bolts were flying from where the armored figure stood, Victor blinking slightly. "Hey...that other kid did something similar..."

Suddenly, all of the rocks were abruptly sent flying back, forming into a somewhat uneven wall all around him. The others were uncovered by this time; Tails, Chopper, Shadow, and Lucario. All four stood up, Chopper coughing lowly. "That wasn't very fun..."

All four had finally stood up, Raibaru suddenly appearing amidst a whirlwind, unharmed. "Where's our captain?"

Some more muffled shouts, prompting everyone to turn to the source; the lower half of Edward's body was sticking out of one of the generated walls, his legs kicking about in frustration. The armored figure approached, mumbling, "Oops...sorry brother..."

He proceeded to grab at the teen's ankles, quickly pulling him out and dangling him upside down. The seemingly stunned, dizzy, and dirty Edward hung there for a moment with a low, injured hum, murmuring, "No prob...thanks Al..."

"No problem," the armored figure responded, unceremoniously dumping Edward to the ground with a loud thud and causing him to wince. "Oop! Sorry!"

"Is everyone alright?" Chopper called, a few of the soldiers streaming in to get a better look at their surroundings.

"As alright as we can get," Shadow responded, brushing some of the dirt off of him. "Where are all of the prisoners?"

Raibaru cleared his throat, prompting the others to glance at him. "While you guys were busy loitering, I got them all out and to safety, where they brought several other officials here to scan the wreckage for any sign of what Bowser is planning."

Victor frowned slightly as he and Don Patch fought their way over to where Chopper and Tails were standing. "Show-off..."

"Victor," Chopper mumbled lowly, elbowing him in the leg. "We should be glad we managed to escape alive AND finish our mission, with or without their help."

The dragon folded his arms and looked away with an irritated grumble, Raibaru and his group beginning to leave; the armored figure was now carrying Edward on his back, but stopped to glance at Victor and his team. "Oh? Are you the Lunar Guild officials that came to help with this mission?"

"Mhm," Chopper responded with a smile, extending a hoof. "Tony Tony Chopper, head doctor of the Lunar Guild!"

The armored figure was forced to bend down to one knee in order to meet Chopper's hoof given their great size difference. "Alphonse Elric. You can call me Al for short, though."

Chopper nodded slightly, Don Patch hopping onto Al's chest. "Hey, you sound like a little kid! But you've got the body of a professional wrestler! What gives?"

"U-uh..." the armored figure responded, quickly trying to pry Don Patch off as the orange blob attempted to yank his helmet off. "Please stop..."

"No! I wanna see if I'm gonna find a big guy with a baby face underneath that armor!" Don Patch shouted angrily; he was cut off when Tails approached behind Don Patch, abruptly yanking one of his spikes off. The orange blob whirled around in shock and attempted to reach for it. "HEY! Gimme back my thorn!"

"Not until you start behaving," Tails responded scoldingly, holding it in the air where Don Patch couldn't reach it as Chopper glanced back at Al.

"S-sorry...my team is a little...weird," the reindeer mumbled bluntly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Al waved both hands about, murmuring, "N-no, it's alright. I've seen my fair share of weirdness too." The armored figure proceeded to stand up, looking down at Chopper. "I have a feeling you guys are gonna be here for a while until the Guildmaster gets another assignment for you. I can show you around the Twilight Castle if you want."

"That'd be swell!" Chopper remarked happily, giving a slight hop before turning away with a slight irate gaze. "BUT DON'T THINK I'M HAPPY 'CAUSE YOU'RE DOING THIS FOR US!"

Al stared for a few moments with a low "uh" as Chopper continued to make several appreciative poses, Victor stepping next to him. "Like he said...they're WEIRD."

**-Later-**

The Twilight Castle had as much of a yellowed appearance as the rest of the plains. The grass remained crunchy and yellow, the trees gnarled and seemingly dead. The castle itself was colored a weathered yellow, no doubt to fit in with the rest of its surroundings. It wasn't nearly as tall as the Lunar Castle, but it made up for it in being larger perimeter-wise, having a length that easily would have encompassed the entire Lunar Hill town. And the majority of it was simply the courtyard itself, where soldiers trained and barracks were scattered about here and there.

At the moment, Chopper stood in front of what looked to be a pale-colored crystal, amongst several other similar ones where a few soldiers were standing, talking to an image on the other side. The reindeer folded his arms expectantly and tapped his foot on the ground until the image of Silver manifested on the other end. He tapped something out of sight for a moment, then asked, "Chopper?"

"Silver," the reindeer responded with a smile, bowing slightly. "You've gotten the results of our most recent mission?"

"Mhm," the hedgehog responded with a nod. "Nice going."

Chopper blushed slightly, looking away and rubbing the back of his head. "Eheh...o-of course, I can't take ALL the credit. We'd have never even escaped Bowser's ship if not for the team that was sent to help us."

"Regardless, the mission was completed, and in record time too," Silver finished, clasping his palms together. "I didn't even have time to come up with another assignment for you."

The reindeer fell silent and gave a bit of a sweatdrop. "R-...right...what are we supposed to do in the meantime then?"

"Well," Silver responded, looking up slightly. "Keep your position in Twilight Plains. Work on your training, see if they have anything for you to do...heck, I'd say just take a moment to relax, but that'd be irresponsible."

"Y-yeah," Chopper responded with a weak chuckle and nod. "Understood. We'll see what we can do. Captain Chopper out."

The image of Silver disappeared, prompting Chopper to turn around; nearby were his team. Don Patch was sitting on a nearby rock, playing with a yo-yo, while Victor leaned on a column picking his teeth with his claws. Tails was sitting patiently on a bench, twiddling his thumbs when Chopper approached. The fox looked up. "Well?"

"We finished our mission so quickly that Si-...the Guildmaster didn't have time to set up another assignment for us," Chopper explained, hanging his head with a slight sigh. "We're acting on our own accord at the moment."

"Really?" Don Patch shouted, hopping to his feet. "YES!" He began skipping around, seemingly giving off several sparkles as he murmured, "No more am I going to be bound by the rules and regulations of my workplace! I'm free to do whatever I want! I'm freeeeeee-"

Don Patch was cut off when Victor stabbed him in the head with his sword, lifting him over his head and waggling him about. "Didn't that Al guy say he'd show us around? Maybe we can ask him if there's something to do."

"That sounds like a good idea, actually," Tails responded, glancing at Chopper. "Did he say he was gonna meet us somewhere?"

The reindeer shrugged slightly as Victor finally slung Don Patch off of his weapon, sending him flying to the side, abruptly smashing against something that gave off a resounding "clang". Everyone turned around, finding that Al was now standing nearby, staring at them with what could have been considered a blank stare. "Uuhh..."

"Captain Alphonse! There you are!" Chopper remarked, hopping towards him. "You said you were gonna show us around?"

"Y-yeah, I did," Al responded with a nod. Don Patch staggered back to his feet, Victor and the others approaching.

"So, Al," Victor began, folding his arms. "We're kinda lacking in the activity department at the moment. Have anything for us to occupy ourselves so we're not bored out of our skulls?"

During this time, Chopper had once again nudged Victor's leg with a scowl. "Victor, be respectful! You have to address him by his title!"

"Or else what?" Victor asked with a frown, glancing at Chopper with an unimpressed stare.

"G-guys, calm down," Al remarked, stepping forward slightly. "It's alright, he doesn't have to be so formal."

Victor glanced at Al slightly as Chopper pursed his lips slightly; during this time, Don Patch had began picking up some rather oversized coins and was fitting them into the puncture wound Victor had left on his head. "I'll save these for college!"

"Anyway, you guys are looking for something to do?" Victor, Chopper, and Tails all nodded in confirmation. Al looked up slightly. "Don't worry, I think I have something that'll keep you guys occupied. It's not exactly a mission per se, but...it should pique your interests."

"How so...?" Victor asked lowly, furrowing his brow slightly.

Al proceeded to begin leading them through the courtyard, Victor dragging Don Patch along with them. "One of the reasons the Twilight Society has such high expectations of its warriors is because of the harsh training regimens we have over here."

The comment was already starting to make Victor break out into an interested smirk, Chopper and Tails exchanging a slightly anxious glance. "One of the most popular is a training arena we have set up here, where soldiers do battle against each other to improve themselves."

"That DOES sound like my kind of interest," Victor responded with an even wider smirk.

Tails couldn't help but roll his eyes with a low sigh. "Anything that involves violence would gain your interest..."

"Damn straight!" Victor responded, glancing at Tails with a malicious grin that caused the fox to shiver with a sigh. "Anything else we ought to know about this arena thing?"

"Well..." Al began, looking up and prompting the group to notice a rather large crowd of people gathered around what looked to be a somewhat large arena. "Don't be surprised if you notice some Solar Faction soldiers here."

The comment caused Tails to temporarily freeze up, pursing his lips together before managing to recollect himself and follow after the group. "Why's that?" Chopper asked in curiosity, as the group approached what looked to be a sign-up desk.

Al paused for a moment, glancing at Chopper slightly. He then looked at Victor, Don Patch, and Tails, saying, "You three can go sign up."

"Fuck yeah!" Victor shouted, abruptly grabbing Tails' arm and dragging the duo towards the sign-up desk.

Chopper looked after the trio for a moment before looking back at Al. "Why did you-"

"It involves the Army of Darkness," the armored figure responded lowly; this caused Chopper to immediately fall silent, adopting a nervous expression.

Meanwhile, Victor had approached the sign-up desk, pulling Tails and Don Patch up to their feet. "We're signing up for this little arena deal."

The official behind the desk looking up, taking notice of the rather overconfident Victor, Don Patch still messing with coins and sticking them in his head, and the slightly winded Tails. "...names?"

"Victor," the dragon responded, jerking a thumb to himself. "And that's ALL you need to know."

The official furrowed his brow slightly, looking over the three of them. "...so I'll put you all down as 'Victor'?"

"WRONG!" Don Patch shouted, leaning forward and leaping onto the desk. "Don't you dare compare me to that lizard! I am Don Patch! The REAL one you should remember!"

Victor let out an irate growl and dragged the orange blob off of the desk, grunting, "Ignore him, he's an idiot."

"I know you are, but what am I?" Don Patch asked rather childishly, prompting Victor to glance at him with an irate expression.

"About to get your ass kicked up and down the Plains, that's what," the dragon scowled in anger, prompting him and Don Patch to butt heads and growl.

The official continued to stare at them with a rather unimpressed stare as Tails stepped in front of him. "Um...the dragon's Victor, the orange thing is Don Patch, and I'm Tails. May we sign up for the arena challenge?"

With this comment, the official scribbled their names down, jerking his head towards a split in the crowd to lead them to the spectating ring. "Thank you," Tails responded with a bow, glancing back at Victor and Don Patch. "Hey! We're signed up now!"

"I BET I CAN GET A BIGGER WIN STREAK THAN YOU!" Don Patch shouted, dashing into the pathway with a crazed expression. Victor scowled in irritation and dashed after him.

"NOT IF I CAN GET ONE SO HIGH YOU WON'T EVER BE ABLE TO COMPARE!" Tails stared at the duo again before heaving a sigh and following them in, shaking his head.


	19. Arenas, Disappearances, Lost Castles

Tales of Mysterra

Chapter 19-Arenas, Disappearances, and Lost Castles

The trio had finally taken their spots amongst the crowd spectating the fights; Victor leaned forward with a slightly narrowed gaze, murmuring, "Let's see just how tough these guys are..."

Don Patch began scarfing down a randomly spawned bucket of popcorn with an excited expression, adding, "This is gonna be an awesome slaughterfest!"

Tails looked between the two, then turned to Don Patch. "Hey, may I have some?"

"GET YOUR OWN," the orange blob shouted back, causing Tails to shrink back in shock.

Victor ignored the duo, keeping his gaze on the battlefield; two participants were current competing, clashing about in an amazing display that caused Victor to break out into a crazed grin. "Hehe...this looks like it's gonna be FUN..."

"Victor don't get carried away," Tails finally remarked, glancing at Victor slightly. "We don't wanna get in trouble like with what happened at Lunar Hill."

The dragon cast Tails an unimpressed glance. "Pfft, you worry too much. I won't get in trouble."

Tails could only look away with a sigh, his ears folding back. "This isn't going to end well..."

During this time, one of the combatants was finally disarmed, their sword flying to the side with a clatter. Everyone let out a low "oohh" as the unarmed fighter glanced at his opponent, who prepared a finishing stroke. In response, said figure leaped back and abruptly flung what looked to be a fireball, exploding upon impact and knocking their opponent back, seemingly unconscious. The crowd cheered as said figure bowed, Victor's smirk growing ever wider and he clenched his fists. "I'm getting antsy..."

"Next participant!" a voice over the intercom shouted, the unconscious warrior being taken away as the previous fighter picked up their weapon, preparing for the arrival of their opponent. "Kokira!"

Victor, Don Patch, and Tails looked towards the other side of the arena, where the next participant stepped out. A fox wearing a blue-colored robe with a very large amount of zippers on it; it almost looked like they were more for show than anything else. A staff seemed to be stuck to their back, a red gem embedded in the top surrounded by a yellow iron crescent. The orange-furred vulpine had shoulder-length hair and a definable feminine body; it was obviously a girl. The dragon furrowed his brow slightly, Don Patch folding his arms slightly. "Oh joy, we get to see a girl fight."

"I dunno, Don Patch..." Tails murmured lowly, watching as the new participant, Kokira dettached her staff from her back; no straps were visible, almost as if the staff were suspended in midair or stuck to her body like a magnet. "Something tells me she's...stronger than she looks."

"You only say that 'cause you think she's attractive," Don Patch responded with a rather skewed expression; a bright faced Tails turned to him with a frown.

"Th-that's not the point!" he retorted angrily.

"Don't be embarrassed, son," Don Patch murmured, adopting a pair of glasses, a receding hairline-like wig, and a smoking pipe. "It's perfectly normal for boys your age to feel this way."

Tails backed away from Don Patch slightly. "Define 'this way', I'm not feeling anything!"

"Shut it, you two," Victor scowled, Don Patch and Tails looking at him. The dragon narrowed his gaze. "I'm with fuzz-butt on this one, she seems impressive."

The aforementioned fox looked behind him slightly, his namesakes quivering slightly at Victor's nickname. "What possibly makes you say that?" the orange blob mumbled flatly.

Victor glanced back at Don Patch with a rather wide smirk. "Premonition, that little feeling in my gut. And I'll have you know I'm NEVER wrong when it comes to that."

"Wow," Don Patch mumbled lowly, blinking. "Your gut must be really smart."

The dragon prepared to smack Don Patch, however, Tails leaned forward and shushed them. "It's starting!"

Both looked back at the arena, where a low "ding" sound was heard, signalling the start of the battle. The vixen, Kokira, stepped back slightly, while her opponent charged forward, preparing a sword swing. Gripping her staff in both hands, Kokira began blocking each strike by swinging her weapon around with expert proficiency, using both ends to keep her opponent's blade from hitting her. Once his weapon had been parried far enough, she quickly swung her staff around, the gem on the top suddenly glowing and releasing a spray of white mist. Said mist abruptly froze over, freezing the ground and causing the opponent to slip, landing with a thud on his back. Everyone blinked with an impressed murmur, Don Patch gasping, "The ground turned to ice! Is it winter already?"

"Was that magic?" Tails murmured with a slight blink. "She utilized it so flawlessly and smoothly..."

"Told ya," Victor murmured, watching as the opponent stood up; by this time, however, Kokira had hopped backwards, giving distance back between the two. The opponent proceeded to plant his weapon into the ground, clasping his hands together and forming another fireball. Everyone blinked slightly, Victor's smile widening slightly. "This ought to get interesting."

With this comment, the opponent fired off his attack; Kokira spun her staff around once again, deflecting each fireball as it was flung forward, dissipating it with each stroke. Everyone else stared, spellbound, as the soldier slowly picked up the pace off his attacks; finally, one of the fireballs hit with enough force to knock Kokira's staff of course, temporarily knocking her off balance. Everyone else blinked slightly, Don Patch leaning forward with a wide gasp. "This is it!"

The vixen glanced at her opponent slightly as he began generating a larger fireball, obviously opting for a finishing blow. Instead, she proceeded to reach into one of her many zippers, digging around for a moment before slinging something towards the opponent; it looked like a diamond-shaped stone with a glowing array on it, prompting the others to blink. "What's that?"

The array abruptly flashed, suddenly expelling some invisible force with a loud hissing sound; the fireball abruptly shifted about before suddenly exploding with considerable force, engulfing the opponent in flames as they let out a strangled yelp. Tails blinked lowly, murmuring, "That stone...it expelled a large amount of oxygen that caused the fireball to rapidly combust, exploding right in its wielder's face..."

"In English?" both Victor and Don Patch mumbled bluntly, staring at the fox boy.

Tails glanced back at the duo with an unimpressed stare, watching as Kokira made a few quick bows towards the crowd before departing, a few medics taking the now significantly singed opponent away. "Next combatants!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Kokira had eventually wandered away from the arena, away from the shouting and sounds of conflict. She brushed herself off slightly, murmuring to herself, "Hope I didn't burn him TOO bad..."

She finally turned another corner, coming into what looked to be a longer, narrower path in the courtyard. The vixen looked around, murmuring, "I'm back."

With this comment, a figure abruptly appeared from nowhere in front of Kokira; a female human with shoulder-length, bright pink hair, with a red top, black shorts, a pink skirt-like piece around her waist, and boots. She folded her arms, Kokira bowing slightly. "Captain Haruno."

"Kokira," the female responded, folding her arms slightly. "I'm glad you arrived so quickly."

"I was in the middle of an arena fight at the time," Kokira responded, looking up slightly. "I had to finish the fight rather quickly. I might have gone a little overboard with it as well..."

The vixen rubbed the back of her head and looked away with a slight sigh, her captain smiling slightly. "Don't worry, as long as there wasn't any death, you should be okay."

"Still..." The vixen glanced back at her, looking around. "...I'm the first one here? That's odd...I'd have expected that-"

"HERE!" A blur abruptly shot past them, bringing with it a rather powerful gust that almost knocked both girls over. Said blur came to a skidding halt a great distance away, generating a smoke cloud in the process before jetting back and coming to a stop in between them both; an anthropomorphic creature covered in blue fur, with several spikes drooping down from the back of his head, gloves, and red sneakers. All in all, he had a striking similarity in appearance to Tails, sans the obvious lack of vulpine characteristics. "Don't get your panties in a wad, I'm here."

Kokira folded her arms with a slight sigh, the captain shaking her head slightly. "You talk so much about your speed, Sonic, and you're not the first one here? I'm just a little disappointed."

She chuckled slightly as the blue creature, Sonic, held up a clenched fist in irritation. "Oh hush, I was held up!"

"Was the mess hall having a special on chili dogs?" Kokira murmured lowly, tilting her head to one side and looking away with a slightly unimpressed expression.

"Maybe they were, but that's not the point," the hedgehog responded, rubbing his nose with a finger. "I'm here, aren't I? Where's the OTHER member of our team?"

"That's what I brought you here to say," their captain responded, adopting a grave expression. "I haven't been able to get a hold of Gatomon. I think something happened to her."

The duo blinked slightly, looking at each other. "What do ya mean by that?" Sonic murmured, glancing back at their captain. "Honestly Sakura, just because you can't find her doesn't automatically mean something happened."

"This is serious, Sonic," the girl, Sakura, murmured with a slight frown. "It's POSSIBLE that nothing's wrong and that she's simply out of reach at the moment, but I don't want to take any chances. I'll try a tracking jutsu to try and find Gatomon, but I want you two to stay together in case someone is behind this and opts to strike again."

Kokira and Sonic exchanged a glance, the hedgehog sighing slightly. "Yes ma'am," Kokira murmured, nodding. "We'll keep an eye out."

"Thank you." With this comment, Sakura abruptly vanished, leaving Kokira and Sonic to stare at each other.

"...so what were you doing before this?" the hedgehog finally murmured.

"Trying out the arena," Kokira responded as-a-matter-of-factly. "Did you want to join me?"

Sonic smiled slightly. "Haven't tried it yet, soooooo...sure."

**-Meanwhile-**

"The Army of Darkness?"

Al nodded, now leading Chopper through a corridor in the Twilight Castle. "Yes. After the events that went down at the Induction Ceremony, we sent some scouts to Solar Mountain to find out if anything had happened."

The two of them had, by this point, entered a large room were several officials were working; it seemed a bit more technological than the other areas in the castle. Amongst the workers in the room were two noticeable figures; both of them yong adult males with unkempt clothing and rather dishevelled appearances, one with shaggy black hair, while the other had white hair. Al and Chopper stepped towards the duo, both looking at them. "Ah, Alphonse," the black-haired figure remarked, his wide, bug-like eyes trailing to Chopper. "You're the Lunar Guild captain Silver sent to find those captives, aren't you?"

"Tony Tony Chopper," the reindeer remarked with a bow.

"L," the black-haired figure responded, giving a slight nod. "Head of intelligence for the Twilight Society."

"Near," the white-haired figure added, turning to Chopper as well. "I fill the same role for the Solar Faction."

Alphonse stepped forward slightly. "Could you...please show Chopper the situation at Solar Castle?"

L nodded at this, the group approaching one of the computers stationed nearby. Near typed on the keyboard at the front, bringing up an image on the screen. Chopper's eyes widened; the castle itself looked completely unharmed, however, there were now several ominous-looking ships flying about, most of them having a gray and monochrome color scheme and having a specific club-like symbol emblazoned on them all. On the mountain floor, millions upon millions of gray creatures, all of them having the same club symbol somewhere on them, patrolled about in droves. Chopper stared with mouth agape, mumbling, "Th-...those are..."

"Nobodies," Al finished, looking down slightly. "While the majority of the Solar Faction's forces were at Lunar Hill, an enormous force of Nobodies infiltrated and took the castle; the forces that did remain at the castle were helplessly overwhelmed."

Chopper looked over at the armored figure, blinking. "A-and nothing similar happened here in Twilight Plains?"

L nodded. "We were attacked...but the force was much easier to repel. For starters, it wasn't an army of Nobodies."

"Regardless, they're no doubt trying to get to the Solar Essence," Near finished, closing his eyes. "The castle's inner defenses have kept them from taking it so far, but it's only a matter of time before they break through."

Chopper looked between the three, finally gulping. "W-well, we have to do something!"

"We're in the midst of devising a battle plan, don't worry," L responded, glancing at Chopper slightly. "We don't have all of the plans down just yet, but we're close to coming to a safe and sound strategy. And when the time comes, we're probably going to need your help."

The reindeer pursed his lips slightly, nodding. "Of course. My team and I will be more than happy to help."

L and Near both nodded. "Now that you understand the situation, it'd be best if you got back to your team," Al remarked, glancing at Chopper. "Don't want them getting into any trouble."

Chopper nodded with a sigh. "And knowing them, that won't take very long at all..." With this comment, the reindeer shifted to Walk Point, charging out of the room.


	20. Victor vs Kokira

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 20-Victor vs. Kokira

With another loud shout, Victor plowed a foot into his opponent, sending them toppling backwards with considerable force and into the wall. "HAH!" The dragon turned around to the stands, pumping a fist out and shouting, "How about THAT?"

Despite his energy, however, Victor's comment was met with silence and rather bored stares from the other spectators. "YOU SUCK!" Don Patch shouted, leaning over the railing, only to be yanked back by Tails.

"Calm down, Don Patch..." the fox groaned. "You're not helping his case..."

A vein popped from the dragon's head as he clenched his fists, stomping slightly and shouting, "Come oooooon! What does it take to get a reaction out of you guys?"

No one responded, some of the spectators casting each other an uninterested glance. "For starters...a fresh Lunar Guild recruit coming in and acting like he owns the place is unimpressive. You should be lucky they aren't laughing at you."

Victor blinked and turned around; Kokira now stood on the other side of the arena, arms folded slightly. The dragon frowned slightly. "Oh, who asked you?"

The vixen shrugged slightly. "Well...no one, but that's not the point."

"Then what IS the point...?" Victor mumbled, an eyebrow twitching.

Kokira lowered her arms to her side. "My point is...if you'd calm down, maybe show some modesty, then you'd get a better reaction out of the crowd."

Victor folded his arms and looked away with a cocky expression. "Pfft. Modesty? Why would I need that? All it's doing is stifling my potential and keeping everyone from noticing it." He pointed towards Kokira, and added, "I'd like to make sure anyone that challenges me knows EXACTLY what they're up against."

The vixen stared at Victor's finger for a moment as Tails facepalmed. "Victor, please, you're making an even bigger fool out of yourself than-"

"Than what?" At this time, a blue, spiky-headed creature had approached the duo from behind at this point, the voice prompting Tails' eyes to shoot open. "I really hope you weren't gonna say what I thought you were."

The fox quickly whirled around to the figure, mouth agape for a few moments before he finally managed to squeak out, "S-...Sonic?"

The hedgehog smirked, patting the smaller fox on the head. "Heh, fancy seeing you here. And in the Lunar Guild, no less. Nice going."

A blush flew across the smaller fox's face as Don Patch tilted his head to one side, scratching his head. "What? You know this clown?"

Sonic glanced at Don Patch with a hint of distaste as Tails answered. "H-he's my best friend. I know he had joined the Solar Faction, but..." He paused for a moment, looking away. "...n-now that I think about it, I really should've expected to see you here from the start..."

"Hey, it's all good," the hedgehog responded with a smile, pulling the fox into a hug, which he rather gladly returned. "I'm sure you've been kept busy."

"S-something like that," the fox murmured lowly, face buried in Sonic's chest.

During this time, Don Patch had turned away from the duo and poked a finger into his mouth, mumbling, "Gaaaaaaaay."

"Says the moron that crossdresses every other ten minutes," Victor shot back in irritation, glancing at the group.

"Hey! I do it for the sake of entertainment!" the orange blob called in a rather high pitched voice, taking on a dramatic pose as a spotlight fell on him from seemingly nowhere.

Everyone stared at Don Patch for a moment for a few more moments as Sonic glanced at Tails. "Is...he your teammate?"

"As hard as it is to believe..." the fox mumbled, looking away slightly.

Kokira cleared her throat at this time to turn Victor's attention back on her. "As...touching as this little reunion is, I have a suggestion." She smiled and extended a hand towards Victor. "I saw you watching my battle earlier, so you at least know what I can do. And since I can sense very little magical power coming from you, I have to assume all your tricks are in your physical combat skills."

"And that's all I need," the dragon finished, smirking and folding his arms. "What, do you wanna take a shot at me?"

"If that's alright with you," she responded with a slight nod. "What do you say?"

The dragon chuckled and closed his eyes. "Hmph...just so you know, I won't pull my punches just because you're a girl."

"I'd be insulted if you did," Kokira responded plainly. "Underestimating your opponent is a novice mistake."

Victor proceeded to unsheath his sword, crouching slightly and gripping the weapon. "I know exactly what to expect from my opponent...I'm just concerned about you getting a little too cocky."

The vixen gave a small frown and gripped her staff, spinning it around and tapping the end on the ground. "We'll just have to wait and see, mm?"

At this time, the other spectators had began murmuring amongst themselves, Don Patch, Tails, and Sonic looking around slightly. "Huh, this matchup must actually be interesting them..." the fox murmured.

"If not only because they wanna see your friend get his ass handed to him," Sonic added with a slight smirk. He folded his arms, murmuring, "Remember, the Solar Faction has the highest expectations of the entire Celestial Alliance...their soldiers are the best anywhere."

Don Patch waved a hand around. "Pfft, yeah right! If anything, I think their expectations are too low!" He jerked a thumb to himself. "They wouldn't let me in because I was too awesome!"

Tails and Sonic stared at Don Patch for a few moments. "...riiiiiiiiight."

"Begin!" With the announcer's call, Victor abruptly lunged towards Kokira, sword at the ready. She blinked slightly and quickly stepped back, swiftly avoiding all of his sword strikes.

"His fighting style is practically an all out offensive with no finesse or coordination...it's like fighting a wild animal." Kokira finally planted the end of her staff on the ground, blocking one of Victor's strokes and at the same time pushing it against the ground to propel herself back. While being sent back, Kokira pointed the gem of her staff towards Victor and called, "You're strong, but unless you're using your brain, you won't win! Arcane Bolt!"

Suddenly, several bolts of blue energy were shot forth, all of them impacting into Victor's front and knocking him flying backwards. He rolled to a halt with a grunt and looked down at where the attack had impacted; it had left a very noticable sting and a blackened spot, but otherwise it wasn't a very detrimental wound. He looked back up to notice that Kokira hadn't moved from her spot, still in a defensive stance of sorts. The dragon scowled. "Tch...she's flighty, and her attacks come pretty fast...for a spellcaster, at least. I'll just have to move faster!"

With this comment, Victor rushed forward again, a little faster than before. Kokira furrowed her brow and avoided the next strokes; however, she was forced to quickly point the end of her staff downwards to block a sweep kick from Victor, though the force did almost knock her off balance. A light gasp, and she managed to twirl her staff around, generating a rather potent gale that knocked them both away from each other, Kokira cartwheeling to a halt as Victor toppled backwards, though he managed to get to his feet rather quickly. "Ggh...wasn't expecting he'd be able to cycle between weapon and physical combat and still retain so much power...!"

Victor had quickly shot back towards her, though this time Kokira tapped the end of her staff forcefully on the ground. "Permafrost!"

The ground underneath her abruptly froze and stretched outwards; Victor blinked and abruptly leaped over the icy floor, still headed right for Kokira. Her eyes widened as Victor went for a vertical stroke, only for it to be blocked by Kokira's staff; the dragon didn't stop here and slung his foot upwards in an attempt at an uppercut, though all he managed to do was knock Kokira's staff out of her hands and into the air. She looked up at it slightly as Victor's momentum caused him to nearly land face-first into the ground, though he caught himself with his hands, embedding his claws into the ice to keep himself from slipping. He smirked at Kokira and prepared a snap kick, however, the vixen responded by moving to the side, lifting two fingers that abruptly caught on fire. Victor blinked in surprise. "H-huh?"

"I don't need my staff to do magic," Kokira responded, lifting her other hand up and clenching the aforementioned weapon as it fell back to the ground. "It just amplifies it."

With this comment, she pointed both fingers at Victor; more specifically, his hands, causing the ice to immediately melt into water and searing Victor's hands. "YEOWCH!"

The dragon abruptly fell over onto his back as Kokira lifted her fingers up again, the ice freezing back and shackling his wrists and ankles to the ground. Everyone let out a light "oohh" as Sonic folded his arms, smiling slightly. "And that's a wrap."

Kokira and Victor exchanged a glance, the vixen with an apathetic expression while the dragon growled lowly. He tried to pull against the shackles as Kokira turned away slightly, preparing to leave. "Don't worry, it's a low-powered binding spell; it ought to wear off once I'm far enough awa-"

Her comment was cut off when she noticed a crack appearing in one of the shackles. Kokira blinked as another, slightly larger one, appeared. "We're not done...YET!"

With a loud shattering noise, Victor abruptly broke free of one of his shackles; Kokira span around, sweeping her staff towards Victor's face. It was, however, stopped when the dragon's free arm grabbed a hold of the red gem affixed at the top of the staff, Kokira blinking as the dragon chuckled. "H-hehehe...gotcha."

Kokira attempted to pull her staff away, however, Victor kept a firm grip. Said gem began glowing rather brightly, Victor's smirk widening as the shackle around his other arm began melting, allowing him to point his palm towards Kokira. The vixen blinked in shock. "Wh-what're you..."

"You said I have a very little amount of magic in me...that may be true, but it doesn't mean I can't cast spells," the dragon remarked with a snicker. "Especially when I'm draining the magic from another source!"

Everyone blinked in surprise as a ball of flame began generating in Victor's palm, quickly beginning to grow in size. Tails let out a slight gulp as Sonic murmured, "Something tells me this won't end well..."

"Are you kidding? I'm disappointed I didn't bring a camera!" Don Patch remarked, leaning forward while eating greedily from a tub of popcorn.

Tails had, during this time, snuck a fistful and crammed it into his mouth as Kokira's eyes began slowly widening, Victor's fireball beginning to grow much larger. _"Where...where is this coming from? There wasn't any magical energy emanating from him before, but now...the amount is immense! And...why does it feel so..."_

Kokira's eyes widened even further as the fireball took on a deep bluish tint, Victor's smile faltering for a moment as the fireball seemed to fluctuate. "Is...that supposed to happen?"

Before the vixen could respond, the fireball seemed to diminish for a mere moment before abruptly exploding, generating a massive explosion that enveloped both combatants and the majority of the battlefield. The entire crowd let out a slight gasp as Tails and Sonic leaned forward in shock. "BAHAHAHAHAHA! HE COULDN'T CONTROL IT!"

Ignoring Don Patch's hysterical laughter, Tails and Sonic leaped off of the railing and into the cloud of smoke, coughing and trying to waft it away. "Victor? Kokira?"

"What's going on?" Tails came to a stop and whirled around quickly, the smoke clearing enough for him to see Chopper approaching, covering his mouth due to the smoke.

"C-Captain!" he stammered. "S-see, we, uh..."

Before the fox could explain further, the smoke was abruptly cleared by a noticeable gust of wind from Sonic waving his arms outwards forcefully, allowing for the battlefield to be seen. The entire ground seemed rather blackened, and Kokira had been knocked into a wall, slowly getting back to her feet; her robe was ripped in a few places and blackened in others, allowing for Tails to just barely notice what looked to be a design in her fur on her upper body, like some sort of tattoo. "Kokira, you alright?" Sonic asked, stepping to her side.

"I've...been better," she coughed slightly, managing to stand up and looking around. "Where's my opponent?"

The group's attention went to the middle of the arena, where a very blackened Victor was still in the same position as before, eyes wide and his hair slicked back as if it had been blown behind him. "Victor? Are you okay?" Chopper mumbled lowly, poking the side of his face slightly.

"...can't...move..." A cough finished Victor's statement as he fell over backwards, blacking out.


	21. The Essences

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 21-The Essences

"How long do I have to stay in bed...?"

"Until you can move again," Chopper responded haughtily, currently hunched over Victor's body as he lay in bed, covered in bandages. "After that reckless use of magic, your body is trying to replace all of the energy you expended...and it's doing that fairly slowly. It's kinda obvious you don't dabble in magic very often."

"I do it never," Victor scowled in irritation. "Too complex."

"Sooooo, it's 'cause you're stupid?" Don Patch chimed in, now hanging from the ceiling with a hysterical laugh. "I thought as much!"

Victor glared at the orange blob with a growl. "That's not the reason at all!" With one swift motion, he had smashed a fist into Don Patch's body from below, knocking him into the ceiling and partially embedding him there.

Chopper looked up at the orange blob, then glared at Victor. "Don't do that! You're injured, we don't want to keep you here longer!"

"Ahem." Both slowly glanced at Tails on the other side of the room, who stood up. "Captain, didn't you JUST say Victor couldn't move...?"

The reindeer nodded. "Yeah, why?"

This time, it was the fox's turn to sigh in exasperation, facepalming. "...and yet he just uppercutted Don Patch into the ceiling, disproving you."

It took Chopper a few moments to realize this before blinking in shock. He looked up at Don Patch, then at Victor, who had, by this point, been flexing his fingers about. "...huh. The nerd is right."

Tails hung his head with a sigh as Chopper began looking over a few screens nearby, blinking. "That's odd...your body's refilled itself of the lost energy."

Victor smirked at this and hopped to his feet, ripping off the bandages around his body. "That's more like it!"

Don Patch abruptly fell from the ceiling during this time, landing with a thunk on the bed and pointing forward. "LET'S GET BUSY! TO THE TRAINING GROUNDS!"

**-Meanwhile-**

"Well, I must admit, that was an interesting match."

Kokira rubbed the back of her head as Sonic followed her through the courtyard. "Yeah, I'll admit that much..." Something was, however, nagging at the back of her head. Victor's sudden spike in energy...where did it come from? Why was it so familiar? It couldn't possibly have been what she thought it was...that was plain impossible.

Her train of thought was cut off when the duo arrived at the door leading to their quarters. Kokira knocked on it, murmuring, "Captain, it's us." They entered, finding Sakura knelt on the floor, her hands pressed together and forming some sort of sign. Her eyes were closed.

Sonic blinked slightly as the two of them came on either side. "Well? Find anything?"

A few moments passed in silence. Before Sonic could ask anything else, Sakura's eyes abruptly snapped open. "Found her. Outside the eastern gates."

Kokira and Sonic both blinked. "How'd she get all the way over there?" the hedgehog murmured in curiosity.

Sakura shook her head. "Not sure, but you should make your way over there to ensure everything's alright."

Sonic smirked and rubbed his nose. "You can count on us!" With this comment, he rocketed out of the door, Kokira sighing and chasing after him, shouting for him to slow down.

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor, Don Patch, Tails, and Chopper now stood amongst a more open portion of the courtyard, the reindeer pacing about slightly. "Alright...after watching Victor and Kokira's battle, it's kinda come to my attention we need to be prepared for opponents that rely heavily on magic."

Chopper glanced at the other three; Victor had his hands folded behind his head and was looking away uninterestedly, while Don Patch was picking his nose with a pinky. Tails, on the other hand, was staring ahead and listening intently. The reindeer fell silent, and sighed. "Since I know Victor and Don Patch aren't listening...Tails?"

Said fox nodded slightly. "Yeah, um...I've never really worked with magic...I'm more of a man of science."

"You mean boy of science," Victor responded bluntly, earning an exasperated stare from Tails.

"...anyway...the closest I've come to are these relics known as the Chaos Emeralds. Seven gems with unimagineable power," the fox continued. "I'm sure they'd work somewhat similar...given a few differences in mechanics."

Chopper nodded slightly. "And these seven are the only of their kind?" The fox nodded, prompting Chopper to rub his chin in thought. "Reminds me of the Essences..."

"That reminds me..." Victor suddenly mumbled, lowering his gaze and frowning. "What are these 'Essences' everyone keeps talking about? That overgrown turtle that kidnapped us talked about 'em..."

The reindeer fell silent; Tails now had his gaze on Chopper curiously, inaudibly begging for information. He finally sighed, murmuring, "The Essences are the cornerstone of the Celestial Alliance's power. They're gems with an immense amount of power within them...rumor has it that they were created when the Celestial Alliance was first established to drive back a demon of unbelievable danger."

Tails looked down in thought. "Hm...it makes sense that Bowser guy would've wanted them, then..."

"There are three Essences, one for each arm of the Celestial Alliance," Chopper continued. "The Lunar Essence, Twilight Essence, and Solar Essence. There really isn't too much of a difference between each one aside from their name and owners, but...combined, the possibilities are endless."

Don Patch continued to pick his nose blankly, Victor adopting a serious expression as Tails shivered. "That sounds dangerous..."

Chopper nodded and turned towards the trio again. "It's part of our job to make sure the Essences aren't used for evil. To that end, lots of bad guys have their eyes on 'em."

Victor and Tails nodded in understanding; before anything else could be said, a resounding screech was heard, accompanied by a cloud of dust as the familiar blue blur came to a halt a short distance away. "Sonic?" Tails murmured with a blink.

Said hedgehog trotted back to them, smirking slightly. "Heya, Tails and co." He glanced at Victor with a blink. "Huh, you sure got fixed up fast."

"I helped!" Don Patch shouted, hopping up slightly, only to be slammed back into the ground with a downwards thunk from Victor's fist.

During this time, Kokira had also arrived with a slight pant, nodding. "Hey guys..."

"Where're you going in such a hurry?" Victor asked, blinking.

Sonic folded his arms. "Yeeeaaahhh, see, one of our teammates went missing earlier today, so we've been trying to find her. We think we might know where she is..."

"...but given that she hasn't returned yet, we think something might've happened," Kokira finished, turning to walk off. "Now we've got to hurry up and find her before-"

"One of your teammates might be in trouble...?" Victor murmured, furrowing his brow slightly and earning a nod from Kokira.

"Maybe we could be of some help?" Tails chimied in, prompting a glance from Sonic and Kokira.

Said hedgehog turned to his partner with a smirk and shrug. "Hey, I've got no qualms with it; I can attest Tails'll be a help to us."

Don Patch stomped forward and jerked a thumb towards himself. "Hey! I'm a help too!"

Kokira furrowed her brow slightly, then sighed with a slight nod. "Alright, I suppose you guys could come along in case there's any danger."

Victor smirked in response as Tails and Chopper gave a nod. "There won't be any as long as you've got us with ya."

Kokira couldn't help but chuckle and roll her eyes. "Alright, if ya say so..."

**-Later-**

It didn't take very long for the group to arrive at the gates, exitting the enclosed walls and finding them just barely outside of the castle. Before them was nothing but plains, gnarled trees, and boulders. All six looked around slightly, only to be interrupted when Sonic pointed to the side, shouting, "There!"

Everyone turned around, noticing a small, white figure laying nearby. It looked to be a little cat with white fur, long pointy ears, some fairly bulky yellow gloves with claws extending from them, and a fairly long tail with a ring wrapped around the end. "Gatomon!" Kokira called, herself and Sonic rushing towards her.

Victor and the others approached slower, though Tails paused and looked down slightly, soon noticing something that the others hadn't; what looked to be a ring of metallic spikes sticking out of the ground around Gatomon. "Look out, it's a trap!"

Kokira and Sonic looked around a little too late, as the ground underneath them seemingly erupted, several bars extending outwards and ensnaring together, forming a cage-like dome over the duo and Gatomon. "Sonic!"

Victor growled lowly, Chopper looking around in a panic and shouting, "It was a trap! But who set it up?"

Kokira and Sonic both looked around, the hedgehog freezing upon noticing that one of the bars had a specific symbol on it; a circle with a much smaller one in the middle, from which two pointed extensions protruded outwards, forming what could have been interpreted as a moustache. On the top portion was two circles that resembled blank eyes, and the lower half had several vertical-facing lines that resembled teeth. Sonic's eyes widened. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me..."

Tails seemed to notice the symbol as well, his eyes widening as a rather loud, hoarse laugh echoed from above. Everyone looked up, soon noticing a circular, metallic-looking object descending from above. It was what looked to be an upside down dome-like hovercraft; sitting inside of it was a rather rotund human figure, with a very long, spiked brown moustache, a pair of goggles over his bald head and tinted glasses on his face. He wore a red labcoat with white gloves; his arms were quite wiry and skinny when compared to his round, egg-shaped torso. "Well well well, if it isn't my two favorite pain in the necks!"

Sonic and Tails both responded with a growl, stepping back slightly. "Why'm I not surprised...Eggman!"


	22. I Am the Eggman

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 22-I Am The Eggman

All eyes trailed to Sonic and Tails. "Wait a sec'...you know this guy?" Don Patch remarked with a slight blink.

Tails turned to the orange blob with a slight nod. "Pretty much..."

"Silence, fools!" the egg-shaped scientist shouted, waving a hand about. "I've got big plans, and...HEY!"

Eggman's attention went to Sonic, who had began flapping his fingers around in a mocking fashion to imitate the doctor's speech. "Wow, this guy's a blowhard," Victor uttered, rolling his eyes as Don Patch doubled over in laughter, smashing his fists into the ground.

The doctor slammed a fist onto the controls of his hovercraft, shouting, "Enough! I don't have time for this, now tell me where the Twilight Essence is!"

Everyone blinked slightly, Chopper frowning. "Wait, you too?" The reindeer looked away in thought. "First Orochimaru, then that Bowser guy..."

"Who?" Victor mumbled, glancing at Chopper slightly as the reindeer looked up at Eggman.

The scientist furrowed his brow and began scratching his chin, tilting his head to one side and musing, "So, it was you who gave that overgrown reptile a hard time...and the one that chased Orochimaru away?"

"What's it to you?" Chopper grunted, stepping forward slightly.

A smirk found its way onto Eggman's face, and he turned towards Chopper and the others. "Oh, nothing really. But this WILL give me quite a bit of favor with our leader!"

Everyone blinked slightly, Chopper gritting his teeth. "You have a leader?" Kokira remarked, gripping at the bars. "You and Bowser?"

"And Orochimaru...you all must be in league with that Army of Darkness," Chopper muttered, narrowing his gaze as the others glanced at him in confusion.

"The wha?" Don Patch mumbled, leaning back and extending his arms to the side.

Eggman frowned slightly, waving a hand about. "Well now, you're a little more knowledgeable than I gave you credit for. In that case, we should skip the formalities and get right to the part where I force the information I want out of you!"

With this comment, Eggman pressed a button on his controls; the inside of the cage surrounding Kokira, Sonic, and Gatomon seemed to spring to life, generating several spikes which began sparking dangerously. "Tell me what I want to know, or they get deep-fried!"

The others grunted slightly, Kokira tapping the end of her staff on the ground. "I can hold that off; you guys try and capture Eggman!"

Chopper nodded, abruptly warping to Heavy Point and stepping forward. Victor smirked widely and extended his blade, murmuring, "You're not forcing anything out of us."

Don Patch, now wearing a pair of small sunglasses and toting a machine gun, stepped forward next to Victor. "You ain't gettin' nothin' out of us, chump," he uttered in a rather thick accent.

Tails glanced at Don Patch in an exasperated fashion, Eggman smirking. "Their funeral." He abruptly pressed a button, resulting in several bolts of lightning flying towards the captured trio; instead, all of the bolts flew towards the gem on Kokira's staff, the vixen wincing as her weapon began glowing brightly. Eggman frowned, slamming a fist on his controls and shouting, "Damn it!"

"You were saying?" Victor remarked cockily, stretching both arms. "Now I suggest you come quietly unless you wanna end up a scrambled egg-man."

The scientist clenched his fists in anger at this, pointing forward threateningly. "Alright, if you want to fight, then we'll do just that!" He pounded a fist on a nearby button, shouting, "EGG GLADIATOR, GO!"

The bottom of the hovercraft abruptly began glowing, several bits of machinery coming out of it and reconstructing; within seconds, armor was constructing itself all over the hovercraft forming into a rather large, humanoid robot with a hulking upper body, and a large sword and shield, all with a red and gray color scheme. A glowing white core in the chest finished off the appearance, the robot motioning forward with its shield. "Gahahahaha! Prepare to die!"

The others stepped back slightly, Chopper glancing at the others. "Don Patch, try and free Kokira and the others. We'll handle Eggman."

"Got it!" he shouted, lunging towards the cage with a gutteral roar. "COOOOOOME GEEEEEET SOOOOOME!"

Don Patch abruptly impacted the side of the cage with a resounding "clang", freezing in place and sinking to the ground. "...maybe I should go and try instead?" Victor mumbled flatly.

Chopper shook his head. "No, I'd prefer you be fighting with us..."

"Guess that goes to show what you think of me," Victor remarked with a cocky snicker.

"That you're overly violent?" Tails murmured, glancing at Victor slightly. "Don't worry, if I've learned anything from fighting Eggman, it's that if you can't see him...there's always a painfully obvious weak point."

The trio's gaze went to the robot; it took mere seconds for their gaze to go to the rather protruding core in the chest. "...that's just sad," Victor mumbled flatly.

"Get that core!" Chopper shouted, Victor abruptly charging forward. He lunged towards the robot - which he now noticed was easily over 20 feet tall - and leaped towards the core, lifting his sword in preparation for a strike. Instead, the robot swung its shield arm around, smashing a fist into Victor and sending him spiralling towards the wall, flipping in midair when his foot snagged on the cage, causing him to smack into the wall face-first, now hanging upside down as he landed with a thud on the ground.

"Be careful, Victor!" Tails shouted, lifting himself into the air by spinning his namesakes around like some sort of helicopter blade. "Just because the weak point is right there doesn't mean he isn't going to be aware of it!"

"It's a design flaw, OKAY?" Eggman abruptly shouted, the robot extending its arms outwards and abruptly firing off several lasers from the glowing core. Tails and Chopper both yelped and leaped to the side to avoid the attacks, Victor slowly standing up and rubbing his now slightly bloodied head. His gaze went to Don Patch, who was now standing on top of the cage with a jackhammer and construction helmet.

"...LET 'ER RIP!" Don Patch shouted, turning on the device and causing his body to begin shaking about in response, the orange blob dancing about the top of the cage from the vibrations.

"Hey! That's annoying!" Sonic growled, clenching his ears and wincing.

Kokira winced from the grating noise, the lightning bolts seemingly getting a little wilder and smashing the ground around them. "...not to mention it's tearing up my concentration..."

Victor abruptly clambered up onto the cage, kicking Don Patch off. "You are WORTHLESS."

The orange blob flopped onto the ground in front of Eggman's robot, the doctor slowly glancing back at Victor as he grabbed a hold of the iron bars and yanking at them with a loud growl. "Ah ah ah, I don't think so!" Eggman shouted, turning towards Victor and lifting up the sword.

Victor looked up slightly, Chopper shouting, "Victor, move!"

The dragon quickly leaped upwards, twisting his body so that the blade passed by right in front of him, the weapon slamming down on the cage and generating a rather sizeable dent in it. Victor landed on the ground in front of the cage, glancing back at the sword as Eggman lifted it up. "...huh."

Kokira and Sonic both looked up, noticing several of the lightning blasters above them being destroyed. Sonic whistled, Tails abruptly blinking. "Get it to focus its attacks on the cage!"

Chopper smiled slightly and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"I can HEAR you, y'know!" Eggman shouted, the robot lifting up its sword and preparing to bring it down on the group. Chopper and Tails avoided, though Don Patch was smashed, giving out a strangled scream in the process.

Tails skidded to a halt next to Victor, glancing at him. "Try and drag his attention over here so that we can free the others."

The dragon gave off a nod in response, abruptly dashing towards Eggman's mech and leaping towards it. Several lasers were fired from the gem, however, Victor was prepared and deflected each with a sword strike. Eggman growled lowly and prepared a punch towards Victor, however, the dragon had quickly twisted his body about and grabbed onto the arm, Eggman now shaking it about. "Hey! Get off of me!"

Eggman's attention was then brought down to his leg, where Chopper was clawing his way up there with a serious expression, now past the knee. "Stop that!"

The mech began dancing about in an attempt to shake them both off, Tails summoning his arm cannon and pointing it at Eggman. The interior began glowing, Tails shouting, "Energy Ball!"

Several blasts were fired from the cannon, blasting around the torso and missing the core. The fox pursed his lips as Eggman turned around to him, shouting, "You're next, fox boy!"

The robot extended its arms again, firing several lasers towards Tails. The fox quickly avoided each strike with great proficiency, some of the lasers flying through the openings in the cage and smashing into the interior, knocking out a few of the lightning blasters. Eggman gritted his teeth in anger, his gaze going to Victor and Chopper, who were now at the joints connecting the limbs to the torso. "Almost there..." the dragon grunted, gripping his sword and preparing to plunge it inside the core.

"Oh no you don't!" Eggman amplified his spinning, now staggering about slightly while trying to grab at Victor and Chopper. During this time, the scientist hadn't noticed Don Patch digging a somewhat sizeable trench into the ground in between the robot and cage. Finally, the unsuspecting mech's foot snagged on the trench, causing it to slowly begin falling towards the cage.

"TIIIIIIIIMBEEEEEEEEER!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, Tails' eyes widening as he quickly managed to fly backwards, the mech smashing into the cage and destroying it.

"S-Sonic!" Tails gasped, coughing slightly as the smoke cleared; Victor and Chopper had both fallen off of the mech, while Kokira had managed to conjure an energy shield just in time to prevent them from being crushed. Victor and Chopper quickly moved out of range of the mech as Sonic grabbed a hold of Kokira and Gatomon; within a flash, Kokira had removed the shield, allowing for Sonic to drag the two of them out just in time. "Are you guys alright?"

Kokira stood up, panting slightly and hanging her head. "I'm good...admittedly, that was a bit exhausting..."

"We're good, little bro," Sonic responded with a nod, patting Tails on the head and earning a relieved smile from the fox.

"Geh..." The mech slowly pushed itself into a standing position, slowly turning towards the now reunited group. "So you managed to escape, big deal. You still can't win!"

"Wanna bet?" Sonic remarked with a smirk, rubbing a thumb on his nose. "I've beaten you millions of times, this one's no different."

Another roar from Eggman, who swung his sword horizontally towards the group, who leaped back as the weapon carved into the ground, leaving a large gash and turning up several rocks. "Chopper, I want you to throw me and Tails at the core," Sonic remarked.

The reindeer glanced at the duo with a slight nod, Tails' gaze going towards Victor and Don Patch. "Offer a distraction, please."

"Don Patch doesn't do distractions!" the orange blob shouted, lifting a fist. "I'm a main character, I'm supposed to be slaying bad guys, not turning their attention onto less important chara-"

His comment was cut off when Victor grabbed a hold of Don Patch's head, kicking him towards Eggman. "Make yourself useful!"

The mech abruptly held up its shield and swatted Don Patch away. Victor charging forward. "Gah! I'm going to crush you like a bug, lizard!"

With this comment, Eggman abruptly forced down the mech's sword towards Victor, who abruptly narrowed his gaze. "Gonna have to keep it in place for a clear shot..."

He abruptly held up his sword, placing the blade against his armguard as the attack impacted with a resounding clang, the ground underneath Victor abruptly cracking as his feet became embedded in. "Victor can only hold him off for so long," Tails remarked, quickly hopping onto Chopper's shoulder.

The reindeer nodded, scooping up the fox and hedgehog and winding up. He abruptly threw them both forth; in midair, the two grabbed a hold of each other and began spinning about, turning into a blue and yellow blur. The mech looked up slightly, Eggman grunting, "What the-"

"Sonic Overdrive!" With this comment, Tails abruptly kicked Sonic away from him, the hedgehog curling up into a ball and shooting into the core with great speed, piercing right through it and resulting in him landing on the other side. The core let off several dangerous sparks, Victor managing to toss the sword away from him and leaping back as the core let out a large explosion, engulfing the entire mech in flames and giving out a large column of smoke. "Got it!"

The mech unceremoniously fell over, but not before Egman's hovercraft abruptly ejected out of the wreckage, both machine and pilot covered in soot. "This isn't over, you blasted fools!" Eggman shouted, waving a fist about as he dashed off out of sight.

"...well, he got away," Chopper mumbled with a sigh, abruptly reverting back to Brain Point. "But on the plus side, we learned a few things...I'll let the others know of this."

**-Meanwhile-**

"...this is your plan, Commander?"

"Yes sir." Edward nodded slightly, his gaze on Gaara in front of him, along with L, Near, and the orange-haired swordsman. "We have a decent amount of Lunar Guild soldiers already set for mobilization...and with the Twilight Society and Solar Faction soldiers already here..."

"We can't afford to waste any more time," the orange-haired teen remarked, closing his eyes. "The more time we waste here devising a plan of action, the more time those Army creeps get to make off with the Solar Essence."

All eyes went to Gaara, who closed his own and folded his hands. "Alright. We'll set out for Solar Mountain tomorrow..."


	23. Assault On Solar Mountain

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 23-Assault on Solar Mountain

Victor now stared at a slip of paper on his desk, scribbling some words onto it. He was writing his next letter to Teresa; a progress report, of sorts. He looked up; he figured he ought to include the results of his first mission, which would include his battles against Bowser and the Koopa Bros. Of course, he'd ALSO have to include that he had needed help from Raibaru and his team...the dragon sighed and hung his head slightly. Perhaps he could put less emphasis on that bit in order to keep him from looking too dependant.

The dragon continued to scribble on the page, just in time for a light knock to be heard on the door. He looked up, Tails poking his head in. "As much as I appreciate the courtesy, this IS your room too, y'know."

The fox rolled his eyes slightly, murmuring, "Victor, Chopper wants us for something."

Victor blinked slightly, turning around in his chair. "What, so he disappears all day, and NOW he suddenly needs us? Sounds fishy."

Tails sighed lowly, hanging his head and responding, "It must be important; they're gathering up the rest of the soldiers here too." When Victor's uncaring nature persisted, Tails sighed and turned around. "I saw Raibaru headed over there too, so-"

The fox was abruptly cut off when Victor dashed out of the room, nearly trampling Tails in the process. He managed to regain his footing and walked off after him, soon arriving at what he had been referring to; a fairly large stand in the courtyard where Gaara and Silver stood, alongside their other high-ranking members; Edward and L alongside Gaara, and Shuurai and Shikamaru alongside Silver. Near also stood by, alongside an orange-haired teen wearing a black robe and sandals, a large sword strapped to his back, wrapped in cloth. "May we have your attention please," Gaara murmured, lifting a hand and causing the formerly noisy soldiers to quiet down.

"Now, I'm sure everyone remembers the situation at Lunar Hill regarding the Solar Master," Silver continued, folding his arms behind his back. "Well, we've received word that Solar Castle has indeed been overtaken by the same group responsible for Sora's abduction."

Some more murmuring from the crowd, Victor finally managing to fight his way to the front with Tails following close behind, offering apologies to those he slipped past. "They call themselves the Army of Darkness," Shuurai continued, currently adopting a serious expression. "These vile cretins endager the safety of all of Mysterra, and as such it is our duty to bring them to justice."

"But we can't do that without our allies fighting to full capacity," Edward added, folding his arms. "Therefore, one of our first objectives is to retake Solar Mountain. Drive the enemy out and make sure they never even think about attacking it again."

A cheer came up from the crowd, Gaara clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "With help from the Solar Faction's higher ranking officials and our advisors, we've established a method of counterattack. Our forces will be split into five groups; your captains will lead you to your respective groups once we are done here."

During this time, Victor furrowed his brow, glancing around and taking notice of Raibaru and Shadow nearby. The wolf cast him an unimpressed glance, Tails murmuring, "Excuse me...who's the Army of Darkness?"

"Exactly what Commander Otohime described," Shadow responded, casting the fox a glance. "They were behind the initiation attack; not to mention Bowser and Eggman."

Victor blinked slightly, turning to the group. "Wait...you know about that?"

"It's hard not to," Raibaru responded flatly, closing his eyes and turning away. "You left a giant, smoking heap of scrap metal with his insignia all over it."

This was met with an annoyed scowl from the dragon. "Oh, who asked you?"

Raibaru and Shadow both glanced at Victor with a blank stare, Tails coughing slightly. "Um...you did."

**-Later-**

Victor, Don Patch, and Tails were now being led into a meeting room by Chopper, where several other soldiers were waiting as well; no doubt the team they'd be working alongside. The trio looked around at the decent-sized crowd, Tails murmuring, "Wow...and this is only one group; the Celestial Alliance must be putting a lot of effort into this."

"Indeed." All four turned around slightly, watching as Shuurai strode into the room, giving each of them his typical warm smile before putting two fingers to his mouth and whistling sharply. "Everyone, attention. I'll be leading your group in our portion of the operation."

Shuurai stepped to the front, all eyes going to him. "Now then, as the Monarch said, we are one of five groups, each with a specific function." He proceeded to lift a hand, which began glowing faintly and established a 3-D, hologram-like map of the Solar Castle above of everyone. "One group will launch a direct offensive on the ground to draw their attention."

A red mist began coming in from the front of the map, hitting the castle from the front. "With their attention diverted, this will allow our two airbourne groups to attack the castle." Two round, green bubbles began coming in from behind the red mist, headed towards the castle. "Neither group, however, will have the intention of actually entering the castle. That's the job for the last group; one of which we are."

Victor couldn't help but smirk widely, simply from the fact that he was a part of the most important job, actually retaking the castle. Two blue streams began weaving their way around the red mist, Shuurai pointing at the canyons on both sides. "There are underground emergency exits all throughout the mountain that lead into the castle; they're narrow and a little confusing, but we know exactly which way to go. The enemy doesn't have that advantage."

The blue streams began snaking their way up the castle, finally meeting at the very top. "We will attack the enemy commanders, hopefully capturing them; with their leaders dealt with, the rest of the forces will have no choice but to retreat."

The map abruptly dissipated, Chopper clearing his throat. "Um...commander, perhaps it might help our soldiers to know EXACTLY what we're up against."

This earned a confused glance from the others, Shuurai nodding. "Of course, of course." This time, another image came up; this time of a very thin, wiry creature with an oversized head and whip-like arms and legs. "The majority of the enemy forces inhabitting the castle right now are creatures known as Nobodies."

Some more talking from amongst the crowd, Don Patch bursting into laughter. "In that case, this ouoght to be a cinch!" He hopped up on Victor's shoulders, jerking a thumb towards himself. "They won't be any match for a somebody like me!"

The orange blob was abruptly grabbed by Victor and implanted in the ground, foot over his face to keep him from talking. "Don't let the name fool you," Shuurai mused, turning back to the diagram as several other unusual figues began materializing alongside the wiry creature; lance-wielding dragons, garbed swordsmen, elaborately-dressed and limber figures, massive hulking ones with enormous swords, among others. "Nobodies are the results of when a strong-willed person loses their heart to darkness."

Tails shivered slightly from the ominous description, though Victor remained unperturbed. "The Nobodies are being commanded by a very powerful figure, no doubt having orchestrated the entire attack," Shuurai continued, a humanoid figrue in a black cloak appearing amongst the other Nobodies in the hologram. A hood hid their entire face, keeping the identity secret. "Once we reach the mastermind behind the assault, stay on your toes."

A unanimous "yes sir" came from the crowd, the hologram abruptly disappearing. "Now then," Shuurai remarked, clapping his hands together. "We have 30 minutes before we leave; make your final preparations, then meet at the zeppelin docking station. Dismissed."

With this comment, Shuurai walked out, the room bursting into activity and talking. Victor turned towards the other members of his team, smirking widely. "My first major battle...I have to say, I am PSYCHED."

"Victor," Chopper murmured, approaching and looking up at him warily. "Don't get in over your head; this is serious business."

"That's right, SERIOUS BUSINESS," Don Patch shouted, hopping up from underneath Victor's foot, now wearing a rather fancy suit and patting the side of a briefcase. "So you should just leave this to me; you'll just screw up the whole offer."

One of the dragon's eyes twitched, Tails quickly stepping between the duo and pushing them apart. "Victor, calm down, Don Patch, stop being...you for two seconds."

"But I can't!" he shouted, abruptly hitting his knees as a spotlight dropped onto him. "It's my role, I can't forsake it for anything! Not a thousand dollars, not a hundred dollars, not even for ONE dollar!"

Tails sweatdropped slightly, Chopper clearing his throat. "Guys, FOCUS." All three glanced at Chopper as he folded his hands behind his back. "Make your final preparations, then meet the rest of us at the zeppelin station. 30 minutes, remember!" With this comment, the reindeer walked off, leaving the trio to exchange a momentary glance.

**-Later-**

Not including the 30 minutes it took to make final preparations, it took several hours to actually get to the mountain range. Victor sat by on a bench, glancing over at their surroundings; it was, essentially, a large and rather breathtaking mountain range. The sun gleamed off of the gray stone comprising each protrusion; from what Victor had heard, Solar Mountain's days lasted as long as Lunar Hill's nights, which made a little bit of sense as far as balance was concerned.

The dragon's gaze went to their upcoming destination; Solar Castle was taller than either the Lunar or Twilight Castles, and had several bridges running through the mountain range to act as walkways. The castle itself actually seemed to have been built into the side of a mountain, protruding from it like a deformed spire. Victor couldn't help but whistle; it must've taken a good amount of ingenuity to get it to work like that. "Everyone, we're entering enemy airspace."

Victor looked up; it was now he noticed several gray-colored ships levitating around the castle, each one of them having some unusual emblem that seemed to be a mixture between a cross and a club. The zeppelin began descending slightly, enabling Victor to see the dark gray bottom of the canyon.

His gaze was abruptly sharpened when he noticed the ground was moving. He leaned forward; the canyon was literally clogged with Nobodies, all of them squirming about with very little space to move about. "W-...wow, there are so many..." he murmured lowly.

Victor's thought process was abruptly cut off when the zeppelin gave a powerful lurch, knocking the dragon off of his feet. "The hell?"

He quickly looked out the window; several robed Nobodies were levitating towards the ship, a literal cloud of translucent blocks surrounding them. Several of these blocks were sent flying towards the zeppelin, impacting it with a crash. Victor growled and quickly rushed into the main room, where he found several Nobodies appearing seemingly out of thin air, forcing everyone into action. "The hell?" the dragon shouted, quickly whirling around as a blade-wielding Nobody lunged at him, only for Victor to slice it in half. "Where are they coming from?"

Victor quickly rushed through the zeppelin, slicing through each Nobody that lunged at him and quickly locating the rest of his team in the cockpit. "Victor, there you are!" Chopper shouted, quickly plowing a nearby Nobody into the ground with two fists.

"Where have you been, mister?" Don Patch shouted, now dressed in some sort of apron and female makeup. "I've been worried sick!"

He abruptly grabbed the side of Victor's face, dragging him down to his eye level. "D-Don Patch, we don't have time for-"

Tails was cut off when Don Patch crammed a jar into his mouth. "I don't want to hear any more out of you until you finish your dinner!" he shouted, turning towards Victor and holding up a rolling pin. "As for you, you need to have a lesson in learning to listen to your momma!"

During this time, a rifle-toting Nobody abruptly appeared behind Don Patch, pointing the barrel of its weapon at the back of his head. Tails coughed slightly and tore the jar from his mouth, shouting, "Don Patch, behind you!"

The orange blob looked around, shouting, "AND YOU!" He abruptly slammed the rolling pin onto the Nobody's head, snapping it in half and repeatedly bashing it onto his target. "How dare you worry me like that, I ought to rip you a new one!"

The others stared at Don Patch slightly, all of the Nobodies abruptly blasted to pieces by a blast of light, dissipating them. The others looked around, noticing Shuurai lowering his now steaming blade. "Everyone, it seems we're experiencing a little more opposition than we expected. Don't worry, this isn't an issue at all, we-"

Shuurai was cut off by an explosion from above, knocking everyone off of their feet and causing the zeppelin to lurch forward even more, now descending even faster towards a nearby canyon; the back was now on fire, giving an occasional smaller boom in a chain reaction. "W-we've been shot down!" Chopper squealed in a panic, reverting to Brain Point and grabbing onto Tails in a panic.

The fox tried to pry him off, Shuurai rushing towards the front and pulling a few switches. "Cueing the mergency landing sequence..."

Outside of the zeppelin, two large poles abruptly shot out of the sides, extending a pair of parachutes that began slowing down the descent, albeit not by a lot. "It's not working," Victor growled angrily, glancing at the others. "Do something!"

Tails finally managed to push Chopper off, stepping towards the controls. "Don't worry, I've got this," he responded, quickly grabbing the throttle and pulling backwards; the ship began lurching upwards ever so slightly, everyone looking up.

"W-we're not gonna crash!" Chopper cheered, a smile protruding his snout. "We're not gonna-"

The reinndeer was cut off when the zeppelin abruptly crashed into the ground, toppling about slightly while tearing through the Nobodies in its path, several shattering and thumping noises coming from within it as it finally rolled to a halt, the fire from behind still blazing, a steady trail of smoke coming from above.


	24. The Solar Mountain Siege

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 24-The Solar Mountain Siege

Victor's eyes snapped back open not long after the crash, only to be winced shut when they were greeted with a stinging smoke cloud. He slowly crawled onto his knees, hearing the clash of weapons and a few explosions outside. He looked around; the zeppelin had capsized, and the windows were all shattered, a few holes blown into the walls. "Victor!"

The dragon looked up, finding his arm grabbed and forcing himself into a standing position next to Shuurai. "There you are," the furry dragon murmured, leading him out of the zeppelin's remains.

"Victor!" Nearby, Chopper was tending to a few wounded soldiers; Don Patch and Tails were also nearby, keeping watch. Both looked around to the dragon with a relieved expression, Shuurai leading him over. "Are you alright?" the reindeer shouted, standing up.

"Yes, he is," Shuurai responded rather quickly, looking around; all of the soldiers that weren't restricted to being tended to were currently fighting against more of the Nobodies. Victor furrowed his brow, Shuurai continuing, "We don't have much time. We need to get moving; the team on the other side of the mountain is going to be moving any second." He looked around. "How many soldiers do we have to spare?"

Everyone looked around slowly; there weren't many nearby that weren't locked in combat, this including Victor, Don Patch, and Tails. "...it'll have to do."

Chopper blinked in shock. "S-sir, with all due respect...how do we even know that the group on the other side of the mountain is ready? They could be in an even worse position than we a-"

The reindeer was cut off when Shuurai slowly glanced at him, once again shedding his otherwise calming expression for a much more serious and authorative one. This seemed to shut Chopper up almost instantaneously, and Shuurai looked around. "All able soldiers, follow me. We're going in."

With this comment, Shuurai began walking off, a group beginning to follow after him, Victor and his team amongst them. "Be careful you guys...!" Chopper called worriedly, going back to the wounded with a contemplative expression.

The group had soon found themselves in a more wide-open area of the canyon they were currently wandering through, Shuurai coming to a halt and grabbing his sword. "The entrance is somewhere nearby..."

"Yes, yes, I can feel it," Don Patch murmured in a hissing tone, drumming his fingers together with a wicked smirk. "We will findsssssss it! We will find the-" Don Patch was immediately cut off when Shuurai pointed his sword at the ground nearby, abruptly firing off a blast of bright energy, hitting a portion of the ground with a large explosion, causing everyone to jump. "HOLY TRAMOLES!"

Some bits of wood fell all around the area of the explosion, a fairly sizable chunk of machine falling with a crash in front of the group. Everyone sidled forward, Victor mumbling, "The hell is that?"

"I've never seen technology like this before..." Tails murmured in amazement, giving a slight blink. It had a fairly cartoonish, sci-fi look to it that one would probably have seen on a children's space oriented show.

The smoke from the debris finally cleared, revealing a pathway leading underground. Shuurai lowered his sword slightly, murmuring, "Come on. We have to move fast."

He began swiftly walking after the hole, everyone following; with the exception of Tails, who quickly managed to pilfer out a gem from the machine; it was completely jet black, yet had some sort of unusual sheen to it that had an almost otherworldly air to it. "Hey! Nerds-a-lot, hurry it up!" Victor shouted impatiently, following the others into the path.

Tails gave a nod, quickly diving into the ground after them, everyone now finding themselves in a fairly narrow underground walkway, lit by torches. "Hey, um...Shuurai, sir?" Tails finally murmured. "What WAS that back there?"

"A turret," the furry hybrid explained, everyone exchanging a glance. "They prepared well; they had all of the entrances blocked off."

"Didn't look like any turret I've ever seen," Victor mumbled flatly. "Looked like some sort of kiddy toy."

Shuurai glanced at Victor out of the side of his eye. "Don't let appearances fool you. The ammunition in that turret would have eaten away at your body like acid."

Victor stared back at Shuurai with a disbelieving stare, Tails' eyes going to the gem he had picked up from the turret; he didn't need to guess that it was some sort of power core. The fox proceeded to stuff the gem into one of his fluffy namesakes, he might need it later.

After what seemed like an hour or so of walking, the group arrived at an upwards stairwell that led to a doorway. "This is one of the entrances to the castle," Shuurai explained, glancing to the other soldiers. "Just because we haven't seen any Nobodies so far...don't let your guard down. There are going to be several guarding the interior of the castle."

He proceeded to push open the doors, everyone sliding into the entrance and looking around. The inside of the Solar Castle easily put the Lunar and Twilight Castles to shame where interior was concerned; the walls and floors were all a sleek marble, with several large paintings, royally colored curtains, and statues of indiscernable figures here and there. Everyone looked around with amazed expressions, Shuurai clearing his throat once he noticed everyone's minds beginning to wander. "Oh, this place is absolutely FABULOUS!" Don Patch called in a rather feminine and regal tone. "Everything goes together SO well, I absolutely MUST know who the designer was!"

Victor's fingers continuously twitched in anticipation of tearing the orange blob limb from limb; the only thing that kept him from doing so was the fact that they were on an important mission. The group finally entered a more wide-open section of the castle halls, where several Nobodies abruptly appeared from nowhere, swarming around the group. "H-how did?"

"Oh, they must be the butlers!" Don Patch remarked, still retaining his regal tone. "Even their uniforms match with the design; bravado, bravado!"

The orange blob was abruptly cut off when Victor lunged forward, kicking Don Patch towards one of the Nobodies. "Shut UP!"

The Nobodies lunged forth in preparation to attack; however, Don Patch curled up into a ball, his spikes being retracted. "How about you get a load of this? Don Patch Soccer Volley!"

With this shout, Don Patch smashed into one of the Nobodies, destroyiong it and ricocheting back towards Victor, the dragon blinking. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted, quickly swatting Don Patch away with another kick, sending him careening into another Nobody with a crash.

"Everyone, don't waste time trying to eliminate them all, just clear a path!" Shuurai shouted, firing another blast of light from the hilt of his blade that shredded through several Nobodies, destroying them. A battle quickly ensued, all of the soldiers engaging in battle, several clashing sounds echoing through the hall amidst very dull explosions from outside.

Despite the sheer number of Nobodies, the fight was slowly dragged through the hall, finally arriving in front of what looked to be a large door with a glass mosaic featuring the sun. "The Solar Essence is behind this door!" Shuurai shouted, several more Nobodies appearing, standing around the door in preparation to hold off the invaders.

"Ggh!" Tails could only let out a grunt, blasting away a Nobody with his arm cannon as it approached, then quickly hopping up to avoid another as it came from behind. "They know we're getting close to reclaiming the castle, so now they're pulling out all the stops!"

"Then we just power our way through!" Victor roared, slicing two incoming Nobodies in half and whirling around, administering a roundhouse kick to another and using the momentum to spin around once more, slamming his sword down onto another that approached him...in actuality being Don Patch.

"Hey! I'm on your side, you know!" the orange blob grunted.

"Then make yourself useful," Victor mumbled, grabbing a hold of Don Patch and flinging him into the door, causing it to be blown open. Victor quickly chased after, Shuurai whirling around with a blink in shock.

"Victor, wait for us!" Tails shouted in a panic, quickly charging in after the dragon and entering the door. Shuurai and the others went to enter as well, however, a barrier of energy abruptly formed in front, preventing anymore from entering. Victor and Tails whirled around to the exit, the fox gasping, "W-we're locked in!"

"Well well well...it seems the cavalry has arrived." The duo quickly turned around, finally getting a good look at their surroundings; it was a very large, circular room with a large, glowing orb in the middle, surrounded by a glass bubble. On the other side of the room was an even larger version of the sun mosaic that was seen on the door, this one having several more features as well.

What caught their attention, however, was the two figures standing in front of the glass bubble. One was a man in a completely black hooded robe, featuring two silver chains hanging from the sides of the hood; both easily remembered this depiction from Shuurai's explanation of the Nobody's leader. The other had a much more different appearance; it was a small child, presumably a toddler, with an oval-shaped head wearing a yellow shirt and red overalls. The child gave off a rather wide smirk, the man waving a hand outwards. "Well, it seems you're just a little too late...the Solar Essence is ours."

The child proceeded to let out a rather refined, gentlemanly laugh, one that made Victor and Tails' skin crawl. "W-we're too late..." the fox mumbled, his lips quivering in worry.

"Noooooo!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, taking on a dramatic pose and holding up one of his fists. "We were so close! It can't possibly be true!"

Victor and Tails exchanged a sweatdrop, the man and child exchanging a slight glance. "If you wish to retake the castle, be our guest...it no longer poses any use to us."

This prompted a blink from Victor, who looked up with a frown and stepped forward. "Oohh no, I don't think so," the dragon remarked with a growl. "I didn't come here JUST to retake a castle. It might've been in my mission description, but..."

He proceeded to hold up a fist, narrowing his gaze and prompting a slight glance from Tails. "I don't know much about these Essences or what they do, but I know enough to realize they don't belong in the hands of bad guys. I won't tolerate it." Victor proceeded to point forward forcefully, shouting, "We're going to kick BOTH your asses, and retake that Solar Essence! Got it?"

Tails gawked at Victor for a few moments, blinking incredulously as both figures began letting out a low chuckle. While the man's laugh seemed very quiet and hollow - probably even fake - the child's was very loud and just a bit obnoxious. "Well, I don't know about you, but I feel in the mood for some fun," the child remarked, speaking in a rather thick English accent and rubbing his hands together. "We've practically already won, and I don't think the big bad wolf will mind us being held up just to toy with some gutsy tykes!"

"You're one to talk..." Victor uttered flatly, rolling his eyes and earning a rather irate glance from the child.

"Well then," the younger remarked, stepping forward and motioning a hand to himself. "Perhaps now is the time for us to introduce ourselves. My name is Stewart Griffin, but you can call me Stewie. My cohort here is the grand leader of all Nobodies. Xemnas, be a dear and introduce yourself, will you?"

The man proceeded to lower his hood, revealing his rather dark-colored skin and long, bright gray hair. His eyes were a piercing yellow, and his expression was both completely stoic and very threatening. "He is correct. My name is Xemnas...leader of the Nobodies. Second in command of the Army of Darkness."

Tails blinked in shock; those behind the barrier also gave off a surprised gasp, Shuurai furrowing his brow. "Th-...the second in command...?" Tails mumbled lowly, legs trembling in fear.

The fox slowly glanced at Victor, who didn't seem to share his anxiety. He retained a serious glance, only for it to be replaced by a wide smirk. "Hmph. Guess it's my lucky day." He proceeded to grip his sword, crouching slightly and shouting, "Once I'm done pounding your face in, send a message to your superior. Tell him that the Lunar Guild warrior Victor is going to come and slaughter him!"

Xemnas remained indifferent, though Stewie responded with another hysterical laugh. "Oh, we'll get your message to him, but I don't think you're going to be the one pounding faces in..."

With this comment, the child pressed one of the buttons on his overalls, suddenly causing some mechanical bits to extend from his clothes, quickly covering a majority of his body. It formed into what looked to be a small robotic frame with a pair of arms and legs coming from around him. The right arm generated a glowing blade of energy, while the left had what looked to be a rounded shield. He pointed the sword towards Victor, Xemnas swinging his arms outwards and abruptly generating a blade of red energy from each sleeve. He bowed his head as he did so before looking back up, still retaining his serious expression. "Now then, Victor...let's see how much of a threat you truly pose to us."


	25. vs Xemnas and Stewie

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 25-vs. Stewie and Xemnas

Victor was quick to charge forward, sword drawn and preparing for a horizontal slash. Stewie responded by holding up the shield of his mech, resulting in Victor's sword impacting with a resounding sparking noise before being knocked back. Victor stepped back slightly to give himself room, avoiding a few swipes from Stewie's own blade before impacting the weapon with his own. Sparks flew from the epicenter of the two weapons, Victor narrowing his gaze as Stewie smirked, holding up his shield towards Victor; the dragon only now noticed the arm holding it up having a cannon attched to the other side. "The hell?"

The dragon was quickly forced to duck to avoid the incoming laser blast, Don Patch sitting up while giving a thumbs up. "I'm okay!"

He was, however, cut off when the blast impacted him, sending the orange blob toppling backwards with a shout, rolling to a halt. He abruptly sat up, thrashing about and screaming, "AGH, THAT BURNS!"

Tails was quickly forced to rush to Don Patch's side, Xemnas casting the duo a slightly disinterested glance. "Wh-wha?" The fox quickly bent down next to Don Patch, looking the blob over; several portions of his body were singed, but it didn't seem like the laser fire he was more accustomed too. He could've sworn it seemed to have a more corrosive look to it, almost like acid. "What's..."

"Stewart's ammunition has a rather...curious effect," Xemnas suddenly commented, having discreetly levitated towards the duo while they were turned away, prompting Tails to hop back in shock, glancing at the Nobody with a gasp. "It's a derivative of a special type of material the Army uses..."

The fox blinked worriedly, his namesakes stiffening for a moment; the thought of the crystal he had picked up prior went through his head. "I would be careful not to get hit too many times if I were you, or else you'll risk having your entire body dissolved."

Victor had glanced at Xemnas during this time, letting out a slight growl as Stewie let out a faint chuckle, forcing the dragon to glance back at him. "Xemnas was generous enough to give you a pointer, but unfortunately for you, that just means I'm going to amp up the power to compensate!"

The child's mech fired off several more blasts, Victor expertly avoiding each shot with great agility. "Hahahaha! Dance, reptile, dance!"

Victor responded with a rather annoyed growl, Tails watching with a slight gulp. He was, however, interrupted when he felt his hair beginning to rise on end. The fox's eyes widened, and he quickly leaped into the air to avoid a ball of lightning from Xemnas, which instead ended up zapping Don Patch, causing him to let out several sputters and shouts as he twisted about. Tails landed on the ground a short distance away with a slight pant, Xemnas lowering his hand and re-extending the blade from his sleeve. "While Stewart deals with your dragon friend, you will have the pleasure of battling with me."

Tails pursed his lips slightly, only to be cut off when Don Patch suddenly stood up, giving a chuckle and rubbing his wrist against his mouth. "Your poor, poor fool...the pleasure will be all MINE."

The orange blob turned towards Xemnas, lifting up one of his hands and flexing his fingers. "You will crumble to the almighty power of Don Patch, the true main character!"

Tails and Xemnas continued to stare, the fox with a rather exasperated expression, while Xemnas remained stoic. "...very well then." With this comment, the Nobody abruptly dashed forward, crossing both blades in preparation for a slash.

"Heh. We'll see how well you fare against this!" Don Patch shouted, lunging forward and reaching behind him. "Your weapons will do you little good against my...Don Patch Hammer!"

The orange blob abruptly pulled out the ever-familiar leek, everyone blinking in shock. "H-he can't be serious..."

Xemnas abruptly sliced the vegetable stick in half with his attack, Don Patch's smirk remaining as he was sent flying backwards from the force, narrowly missing Tails. The Nobody didn't stop there, and lunged towards Tails next; the fox was able to hop over the attack, spinning his namesakes to propel him upwards and away. This, however, did not stop Xemnas, who leaped after him, swinging his blades around several times and forcing Tails to quickly avoid each swipe. One of the attacks nicked at Tails' stomach, causing him to yelp and quickly jet backwards, Xemnas murmuring, "You're flighty. But you can only run for so long."

Tails pursed his lips in anxiety, barely noticing Victor headed towards Stewie, managing to avoid all of his laser blasts and preparing a horizontal slash. Stewie instead held up his sword to block, the two struggling for a moment before the child abruptly fired off a point-blank ranged laser blast that sent Victor toppling backwards. "Victor!" Tails shouted in a panic, only for Xemnas to send the fox rocketing back to the ground with an axe kick, toppling to a halt before descending.

The dragon began very slowly getting back to his feet, giving off a hoarse cough before looking up with a growl, Stewie stepping forward with another victorious laugh. "Awh, is the little gecko running out of juice? Unfortunately for you, my mech still has a lot of energy left in the tank!"

Victor let out a rather irate growl, Tails looking up with a slight wince, eyeing the scene; his gaze momentarily drifted towards the large glowing orb in the middle of the room, then back at Stewie. The fox trained his eyes on a panel sticking from the frame's back, which had been giving off a slight glow throughout the entire fight. The fox blinked slightly, abruptly shouting, "Victor! Tag out!"

The dragon cast him a glance, the fox quickly extending his hand and causing a larger hand to abruptly generate itself below Victor. Stewie fired off another laser, the hand abruptly flicking Victor into the air to avoid. Tails had used his other hand to fire off his extendable glove towards the fist, Xemnas furrowing his brow and lunging forwards Tails in preparation for another attack. The fox had glanced at the Nobody, his glove immediately yanking him away from the attack and causing Xemnas to skid to a halt. The Nobody slowly looked up, taking note of Victor straightening himself out in midair, now lunging towards Xemnas with his sword wound back for a stab. The Nobody furrowed his brow, Victor shouting, "Let's see you stand up to this! Dragon Lance!"

With this shout, Victor rocketed towards Xemnas, the Nobody attempting to execute another crossed slice at him; however, Victor had managed to overpower the weapons and dashed right past Xemnas, leaving a gash across his side and sending some blood flying out from the wound. "Ggh..." Xemnas abruptly hit one of his knees, retracting both blades and grabbing at his new wound. Stewie had glanced at Xemnas during this time, furrowing his brow; he was, however, cut off when his attention went back to Tails, who had grabbed onto the generated hand, then flung himself towards the child, sliding across the ground.

"I don't think so!" Stewie shouted, firing off several laser blasts; however, Tails had curled into a ball and quickly avoided each attack, sliding right in between Stewie's legs. Before the child could turn around, Tails had unfurled himself, pointing his arm cannon at the mech's back.

"Energy Ball!" With this shout, Tails fired off a decent-sized ball of energy at the panel, abruptly impacting it with a loud explosion that envelloped the entire mech. Stewie was thrown out of the inferno, flopping to a halt as Tails lowered his weapon, stepping forward slightly. "G-...got 'em..."

Stewie looked up ever so slightly, growling, "You...damned mutt..."

Victor glanced at Tails slightly, now pointing his blade at the back of Xemnas's head while the fox approached Stewie, looking down at him. "You were siphoning the Solar Essence's power via that panel on your back...it might've given you a bunch of extra juice, but it also left a huge weak point to exploit."

The child let out a rather annoyed growl, Victor chuckling slightly. "Looks like we've got you. Now we can bring you in, and you can tell us all about what your little buddies have planned."

Xemnas remained silent, keeping his head down. "I don't think so, lizard...we shall not be defeated so soundly."

Suddenly, Victor was blasted from behind with a beam of light, causing him to shout and abruptly fall onto his front, everyone whirling around. Standing behind Victor was none other than Xemnas; the image the dragon had subdued abruptly vanished in a flash of light, prompting the others to blink. "A-A clone?"

Tails' stupor was cut off when Stewie span around, knocking the fox off of his feet and pinning him to the ground, pointing a pistol at his face. "It seems the tables have turned," the child remarked with an evil smirk, Tails' eyes widening as he gave off a nervous gulp.

"D-...Don Patch," Victor growled lowly, slowly tilting his head up. "Make yourself useful...an' do something...!"

Nearby, however, the orange blob was standing by with a rather furious expression, glaring at Victor. "I don't think so," he uttered rather harshly, eyes twitching slightly.

Back outside of the room, the other soldiers continued to stare with a rather shocked expression, eyeing the scene with slightly anxious expressions. "Oh no...this doesn't look good."

"Make way, make way!" Everyone turned around, quickly noticing Chopper rushing forwards, skidding to a halt. "Where are they? Commander Shuurai?"

A quick scan, however, showed that the hybrid was nowhere to be found, seemingly vanished from sight amidst the battle. "Wh-...where did he go?"

Back inside of the room, Xemnas had slowly picked up Victor by the scruff of his neck, murmuring, "We could bring them prisoner...or we could kill them here."

"I say we have a little fun with them first," Stewie remarked with an even wider smirk. "Use them for target practice. I've got a new gun I want to try out on them." He glanced at Tails slightly, chuckling and pushing the barrel of his pistol against his face. "Mmm, yes...particularly this one."

The fox gave off a slight blink. "...I'm not sure which one I'm more afraid of, the version of that with the innuendo or without," he mumbled lowly.

"Fags," Victor mumbled flatly, earning a rather annoyed glare from Stewie, who pointed his pistol at him.

"Hey! You'd best tone yourself down, or you're going to be my first target!" the child shouted irritably.

Victor responded with a hateful growl, only to blink once he noticed a light beginning to materialize behind Stewie. The dragon blinked, Tails looking up slightly as a blade abruptly appeared at Stewie's neck. The child blinked in shock upon noticing it, a rather stern voice murmuring behind him, "I wouldn't be so quick to make such violent threats, child."

The light soon materialized into Shuurai, the hybrid retaining a still-serious expression as Stewie let out a slight gulp, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face. "Ggh...how..."

Xemnas furrowed his brow, turning to Shuurai; when Victor went to stand up, Xemnas stomped forcefully on his back, forcing him back into the ground. "I'm a little curious as to how you managed to get through my barrier, especially without us knowing...who are you?"

Shuurai remained serious, lowering his head slightly, yet keeping his gaze on Xemnas. "Commander Shuurai Otohime, second-in-command of the Lunar Guild. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the both of you in."


	26. Aftermath

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 26-Aftermath

A few moments passed in silence, Xemnas and Shuurai exchanging serious expressions while Stewie gave off a curious blink. "...what the deuce?"

"C-...Commander..." Tails grunted lowly, only to have Stewie's barrel shoved back in his face.

Xemnas closed his eyes, turning to the side slightly. "I'm surprised you managed to get around my barrier...you caught me off guard."

"That, I find just a tad hard to believe," Shuurai responded plainly. "Since Nobodies can't feel anything."

"BURN!" Don Patch shouted, pointing forcefully at Xemnas and beginning to laugh hysterically.

Victor cast a rather annoyed glance at said orange blob, Xemnas closing his eyes and holding a hand towards Victor. The dragon was abruptly ensnared in an orb of energy, prompting him to quickly sit up and try clawing at it, to no avail. He growled lowly, Xemnas turning to Shuurai. "We're beginning to run just a little bit behind schedule. So I won't hold back in defeating you."

Shuurai retained a serious expression, Xemnas holding up both hands; suddenly, two clones of the Nobody appeared, blades drawn. "H-hey, no fair!" Don Patch shouted, stomping forth. "Three against one is against the rules!"

Suddenly, Don Patch slid to Shuurai's side, wearing a blue jersey, fuzzy brown afro, and dribbling a basketball around him. "NOW it's even! I'm like two players in one!" Shuurai had, during this time, began lifting up one of his hands, Don Patch dribbling the ball all around him. "Oh, can't touch this! Can't touch this! Can't touch this! You WISH you could touch this!"

Both clones abruptly charged forward, blades drawn, while Shuurai's weapon seemingly dissolved into a glowing yellow mist that began winding all around him. Said mist solidified into several spears of light around Shuurai, who motioned forward calmly. "Photon Barrage."

All of the spears shot forward at a great speed, spearing the clones and abruptly detonating them, as well as several portions of the floor that forced Xemnas to quickly evade, as well as send Victor toppling to the side. The others let out a slight gasp as the smoke cleared, Shuurai lowering his hand as his blade resolidified itself. "W-...wow..." Tails could only mumble, the smoke clearing once Xemnas waved his hands about.

"Hmph...perhaps it was unwise of me to send a few mindless drones after you," Xemnas murmured, extending his own blades. "I'll deal with you myself."

Shuurai simply responded with an inviting motion, Xemnas swiftly charging forward. He crossed his blades and went for a double slash, only for Shuurai's body to abruptly disappear in a flash of light. The Nobody blinked, barely able to turn around fast enough to block Shuurai's vertical slice, Xemnas quickly backing away to generate distance. He followed with several black and white energy blasts, all of which seemingly impacted Shuurai, shrouding him in smoke. "C-Commander!" Chopper stammered from the other side of the barrier, grabbing at it with wide eyes.

Xemnas furrowed his brow, Shuurai stepping out with his blade pointed forward, glowing very brightly. "Optic Spear."

Several blasts of light were fired from the hilt, forcing Xemnas to quickly evade as the blasts impacted, shrouding the field in more smoke and causing some portions of the wall to begin cracking slightly. The others continued to gawk at the display, Chopper mumbling, "Th-this is incredible..."

Xemnas finally erupted from the smoke cloud, firing off several more blasts of energy towards Shuurai. The hybrid quickly avoided each strike, eyes still trained on Xemnas intently. The Nobody let out a slight frown in the process, the ground rumbling slightly from the repeated barrage and causing the others to shift slightly. "Tch...watch where you're blasting, I'm still down here!" Stewie called out in annoyance.

"Indeed," Shuurai remarked, hopping up into the air and ascending, seemingly levitating a short distance away from Xemnas. "It's time I finished this."

The Nobody let out a slight grunt, Shuurai gripping his blade and holding up his other hand, beginning to generate a rather bright ball of light in it. It let out a rather noticeable hissing noise, Xemnas crossing his blades in preparation to block the attack. Shuurai looked up again, the ball increasing in size and prompting him to crouch slightly. Xemnas abruptly charged forward, blades extending slightly, and uttering, "Let's see what you've got, Commander."

"If you wish," Shuurai remarked, abruptly lunging forth with his ball of light glowing even brighter. "Gigajoule Flash!"

With this command, the ball was thrust forth, impacting Xemnas directly; a very large flash of light emanated from the epicenter of the blow, enshrouding the entire room in light and generating a very large explosion that forced those on the other side of the barrier to quickly dive back as it shattered from the force. Several loud crashes and shimmering noises were heard from the room before the light faded, forcing everyone to slowly look up. "C-...Commander?"

Chopper quickly hopped to his feet, dashing into the room and covering his eyes to avoid being blinded. When he finally looked back, he noticed Shuurai descending, with Stewie having been knocked unconscious, visibly burnt and bloody, while Xemnas was on one knee in front of Shuurai, looking in much worse shape than his partner. "It's done," Shuurai uttered, giving a slight nod.

The reindeer quickly rushed to his side, only to look around; Victor, Don Patch, and Tails were nowhere to be seen. "Wh-...where's my team?"

Shuurai glanced at Chopper slightly, giving a small frown. "I'm sorry...I had to teleport them away in order to ensure they weren't caught in my attack. Unfortunately, it was such a hasty movement that I wasn't able to pinpoint exactly where I had done so. They could be anywhere in Mysterra right now." Chopper's eyes widened in horror, the reindeer looking down slightly as Shuurai bent down on one knee, resting a hand on Chopper's shoulder and looking down as well. "I'm very sorry..."

"N-...no, it's alright," Chopper responded, looking up slightly and forcing a smile. "Y-you know what you were doing. It was for their safety. They'll be alright."

Shuurai smiled back. "That's a better attitude to take. I'm sure they're just fine." The hybrid stood back up, his gaze now traveling to Xemnas, who looked up slightly. "As for you..."

The Nobody closed his eyes, responding with a smile and low chuckle. "Hmph...you may have beaten us this time..." He slowly stood up, a pillar of dark energy abruptly appearing behind him as Xemnas began staggering backwards slightly. "We still win this round...the Solar Essence is in our hands. Feel free to take your castle, it serves us no purpose."

Shuurai furrowed his brow, Chopper's gaze quickly going to the Solar Essence in the glass casing. However, the light abruptly faded, revealing what looked to be a lightbulb with the familiar insignia of Eggman on it. "I-it was a fake?" Chopper gasped, his eyes wide.

"Yes..." Xemnas responded, a black pillar abruptly swallowing up Stewie and warping him away. "We've had the Solar Essence all along. We were told to hold our position until you came. We originally had another mission in mind, however..." The Nobody waved a hand about rather dramatically, giving another chuckle. "Your little blunder fixed that for us."

Shuurai narrowed his gaze, Chopper glancing between the two worriedly. "Before we go, know this..." Xemnas proceeded to point forward, slipping into the dark pillar and slowly vanishing from view. "The Army will have victory...Mysterra will be crushed beneath our might. And there is NOTHING you can do to stop it."

With this final comment, Xemnas disappeared, leaving Shuurai and Chopper alone as several more soldiers rushed into the room, scanning the area. Shuurai turned away slightly, Chopper looking after him as the hybrid murmured, "Solar Castle has been reclaimed. Our mission is complete."

"A-and my team?" Chopper mumbled worriedly, giving a gulp.

Shuurai remained silent, staring away from him. "We will find them..." The hybrid began walking out, closing his eyes as he did so. _"Although...you will probably end up wishing we don't..."_

**-Later-**

After Shuurai's attack, Victor saw nothing but darkness. He had, at first, thought he had gone blind from the severity of Shuurai's attack, however, he had soon deduced that he was simply knocked unconscious. This was further supported when his eyes allowed themselves to be snapped open, Victor abruptly jerking up with a pant. "Ah...ah..."

The dragon paused for a moment, staring at the grassy floor he was sitting on. He slowly looked up, taking a moment to digest his current surroundings; nothing but trees, vines, flowers, etc. It was a jungle, alright. Victor furrowed his brow, slowly forcing himself into a standing position. "Ggh...where am I...?"

Victor looked around, pacing for a moment as his head twisted all about. "Hey! Anyone there?" No response. "Captain? Tails? Where the hell are you guys?" Still no response. Victor slowly looked down, gritting his teeth; it was obvious he was nowhere near Solar Castle anymore. The question was...how did he get here? Where was here anyway?

The dragon went to step into the forest in an attempt at exploring, however, he was abruptly interrupted when the floor gave way, dropping Victor into a pit in the ground rather harshly. "Gah?" A rather harsh thud, and Victor slowly looked up; a pitfall trap. The dragon paused for a moment to mentally attack himself for being so dull not to have noticed, then stood up. He growled, digging his claws into the sides of the hole; however, as soon as he did so, the wall began crumbling slightly, signs of the walls being too weak for him to dig into himself. "Geh..."

Victor folded his arms in thought, attempting to devise a way out; however, his train of thought wasn't allowed to get very far before he heard some shuffling overhead. He slowly looked up; some shadows were now peeking down at him from the edge of the hole, no doubt the ones who had set it up in the first place. Victor gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, shouting, "HEY! Get me out of here!"

This was met with the creatures above glancing at each other, exchanging light squeaks and gurgles that Victor assumed was their native language. The dragon furrowed his brow as one abruptly pulled out a long object; a rather crudely made spear. It went to poke at Victor, who quickly moved out of the way with a glare. The others exchanged more squeaks and pulled out several more spears, now attempting to poke at Victor. "Hey! Watch where you're...ow! Quit it! Ow! Stop or I'll...OW! STOP!"

With this rather loud shout, Victor grabbed one of the spears and yanked it away from its wielder, snapping it in half with a growl. The creature let out several panicked squeaks and backed away, Victor smirking. "Yeah, that's right, run off ya little cowards!"

Victor's cocky comment was silenced when an even larger figure stepped forward; a much larger variation of the creatures that were poking at him. Victor furrowed his brow as the creature abruptly opened its mouth, a whip-like tongue abruptly lashing out and wrapping around Victor. Before the dragon could make another move, he was abruptly yanked back into the creature's mouth, its jaws clamping down on him. The dragon abruptly growled angrily, trying to thrash about; however, the creature's mouth was very strong, and his kicks and scratches did practically nothing. Victor tried to reach for his sword, however, the creature's mouth was clamped together too tightly for him to grab it. Add to this the slippery saliva and its fairly pungent smell, and Victor was finding it a tad difficult not to simply pass out once more. The creature didn't swallow, however; instead, Victor found the prison rocking slightly, signs of the creature now walking away. They were no doubt taking him to their leader...and Victor relished the thought of bashing them senseless for this ambush.

**-Meanwhile-**

"Here we are in the vast wilderness of the Mysterra Swamps. An untamed wildland filled with wildlife you've only imagined of, and smells you'd only experience in the back of my refrigerator."

Don Patch had, unlike Victor, been awake for quite a while, and was already in the midst of another of his skits; he now wore a safari helmet and had a camera set up nearby, seemingly taping his every move. The orange blob whirled around, now speaking in a very thick Australian accent. As he had said, Don Patch was currently in some sort of swampland, trees and bodies of water everywhere, with some uneven and muddy ground. "Let's see what else we can find in this amazing wonderland of nature!"

His comment was cut off by some shifing about; the orange blob turned back around, taking notice of some movement nearby. A small, orange creature was toddling about, with a yellow ring around its neck and a tail which had been split down the middle to form two separate ones. "Oh? It seems we've come across a new species! Probably a relative of the twin-tailed garbage disposal from last week!"

Don Patch turned around, flashing out a seemingly blurry picture of Tails with a hot dog. Stowing the picture away, Don Patch turned back to the creature, who was sifting through the water before diving in. "Let's get a closer look."

The orange blob grabbed his camera, beginning to crawl towards the body of water and peeking his head over the surface. Before Don Patch could make another move, the orange creature abruptly poked its head over the water, staring at Don Patch. "CRIKEY!" the orange blob shrieked, leaping back in a panic as the creature continued to stare at him.

A few more moments passed, Don Patch slowly taking on a less frightened expression. "...the creature seems docile," he remarked, stepping towards it and prompting the two to stare at each other. Both begins lifting up their hands in unison, flapping fingers and sticking their tongues out, making fairly comical faces as well. Finally, both began slapping at each other in a rather sissified fashion, whining lowly.

After a few moments of this, Don Patch had halted the slap fight, and grabbed a hold of the creature before slamming it face-first into the ground rather harshly. "YEEEAAAAHHHH!" the orange blob roared in a rather gutteral voice, now wearing a wrestling mask over his face and bending down over the creature as it attempted to sit back up. "WHO'S THE DOOOOOOOON?"

Don Patch's roars were abruptly cut off when a rock was smashed over the back of his head, the orange blob slowly falling over. "Interference...you got a DQ..." He finally landed on the ground, several more orange creatures similar to the first surrounding him and exchanging a few cautious squeaks and murmurs.


	27. The Missing Chums

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 27-The Missing Chums

Unlike with Victor and Don Patch, Tails hadn't woken up by this point. He was softly snoring, belly rising up and down with each breath he took. The fox seemed very content with his nap and the rather unconventional location it was in; he was interrupted, however, when a tiny, black paw abruptly grabbed a hold of one of his cheeks, pinching it slightly and tugging on it. The fox winced and groaned, waving a hand about and groaning, "Not now Sonic, I'm trying to sleep..."

The paw abruptly let go with a rather audible squeak of terror, forcing Tails to very slowly open his eyes, staring up at the sky. "Nngh..." He slowly sat up, rubbing his head and groaning, "Fine, fine, I'm awake..."

After rubbing the remaining bit of drowsiness from his eyes, Tails took the opportunity to look around; he was in the middle of a fairly bright forest with a dirt flooring...however, something felt off. The trees and shrubbery didn't feel natural. The fox furrowed his brow and slowly looked around, his gaze falling on the only other creature in the clearing aside from him.

A very small, round creature that was covered in an extremely fine, orange fur with a cream-colored underbelly. It had wide, blue-colored eyes, and a light blue cloth belt - Tails believed it was called a haramaki - around its rather pudgy body. A leather bag was wrapped around its back. Probably the most curious feature of the creature was the pair of bat-like wings protruding form both sides of its head in place of ears. The creature kept its stubby arms and legs pulled in as if it were afraid to be near Tails, a terrified expression on its face. The fox blinked for a few moments. "Um...hi?"

Tails slowly lifted a hand; however, the creature seemingly took this as a sign of attack and yelped, quickly trying to squirm away; however, it just as quickly tripped over its own feet and landed face-down on the ground. Tails hopped to his feet, gasping, "Are you okay?"

The creature slowly picked itself back up, brushing the dirt off of its body before beginning to crawl away from him, still very much afraid. Tails lifted up both hands and backed away slightly, stammering, "D-don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you! I promise!"

This seemed to get the creature to come to a stop, looking up and giving a nervous gulp. "P-...promise?"

The fact it was capable of speech relieved Tails a little, and he nodded. "Yes, I promise."

With this comment, the creature abruptly let out a large sigh of relief, plopping onto its back with a groan. "Whew...I-I thought I was a goner..."

Tails took a slight step forwatd, looking around slightly. "So...where are we anyway?"

The creature looked up, blinking in curiosity. "Y-you don't know?" It slowly rolled onto its front, pushing itself into a standing position. "We're in the Digital Forest, on an island southwest of the mainland." He paused, then looked down. "Er...at least I think so."

The fox boy proceeded to look down, deep in thought for a few moments. "Hm...I'm probably somewhere near Twilight Plains, then..." He slowly looked up, taking another step forward and extending a hand, causing the creature to shrink back slightly. "Er...my name's Miles, but I'd much prefer if you called me Tails."

The creature slowly looked at Tails' hand before sidling forward rather slowly and grabbing a hold of one of his fingers with its tiny paws. "I'm...Patamon..." He looked away slightly. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to hurt me..."

Tails blinked in shock, quickly shaking his head. "What? No, of course not! I don't go about hurting innocents!" He proceeded to crouch down next to Patamon, patting him on the head and earning a slight wince from Patamon, though a slight blush was still visible on the tiny creature's head.

"Mm...a-anyway...I guess you don't live around here," Patamon mused, looking up at Tails slightly. "Then...how did you get here?"

The fox's smile deteriorated into a serious expression, Patamon adopting another nervous expression. "It's...kind of a long story..."

**-Meanwhile-**

After several minutes of sitting - quite liteally - in the belly of the beast, Victor was beginning to get impatient. If they wanted to eat him, they should've just done it already...on the other hand, their home might truly have been such a great distance from where they were. The smell was beginning to get to Victor, and he was getting rather close to passing out. He was, however, relieved when his prison abruptly opened up, light spilling in as Victor was spit out onto the ground, landing with a wet splat. "Gah!"

Upon landing, Victor heard a large amount of squeaks and squeals coming from all around, forcing him to slowly open his eyes. He now got a much better look at his captors once his eyes had adjusted to the light; all of them dinosaur-like creatures wearing tribal clothing. A similarity they all shared was large, round noses and overall docile and harmless appearances, as well as a pair of boots on their feet; this struck Victor as extremely odd given the overall non-modern area they were currently in, which had hide tents set up everywhere and altogether had a rather simplistic look to it. A rather loud squeak silenced all the others, prompting Victor to finally turn around.

One creature in particular stood by in the most regal clothing, among them a protruding headdress. Victor assumed this was the chief he had been looking for. He slowly stood up, shaking off what drool he could before muttering, "There's a fancy little invention called 'toothpaste' that I think the big guy could really use."

The large creature that had imprisoned Victor blinked, breathing into its hand and sniffing the results. "Silence, trespasser," the chief abruptly murmured in a rather elderly and cracked tone, motioning forward. "Who are you?"

Victor turned back to the chief, narrowing his gaze and clenching his fists. "My name's Victor. And I suggest you let me go before I splatter your brains all over the pavement!"

This prompted the surrounding creatures to let out a frenzy of squeals, several of them pointing weapons at Victor; alongside the aforementioned spears, he saw bows, arrows, and tomahawks among them. The chief lifted up one of his hands, silencing the creatures. "You are not in a position to be making demands, stranger. My tribesman have you surrounded."

Victor slowly looked around at the creatures on every side of him, eyeing him with disdain, anger, or fear. "...that reminds me. The hell are you guys?" Victor mumbled rather bluntly, narrowing his gaze and glaring at the chief.

Said chief furrowed his own gaze, staring at Victor. "...we are a tribe of nomadic Yoshi. And you are trespassing on our home."

"And here I thought nomadic meant you didn't have one," Victor uttered flatly, folding his arms and looking away slightly. "Now let me go, or else this is gonna get real ugly, real fast."

"I think not," the chief responded sharply, Victor casting him another glare. "You trespass upon our land and hurl threats of death to my people. You may not leave until our demands are met."

Victor narrowed his gaze. "Pfft...yeah right." The Yoshi tribes' weapons were abruptly pointed at Victor, who waved his hand about. "Look, I don't have the time to waste doing chores for you, I have to get back home and find my team."

The dragon turned around, all weapons being pointed at him. "My tribesman have been going into the nearby forest for hunting, and would disappear for a few days. Afterwards, others would find the missing Yoshi, dead."

Victor finally seemed to stop, his head turning ever so slightly towards the chief to show he was listening. "So...you want me to find the killer? Seems a bit much to ask of a random trespasser."

"Are you saying you're not up to the ask?" the chief asked.

His words abruptly struck a chord with Victor, who gave off a very confident expression. "Fuck no. I'll find your killer, I can assure you that." He finally turned to face the chief completely. "And when I do, you'll let me go."

"Yes," the chief responded with a nod. "We have a deal. My tribesman will take you to see one of our braves who claims to have seen the killer."

Victor gave a slight nod, the Yoshi beginning to walk him towards a nearby tent, herding him like cattle. Upon arriving at their destination, one gave off a rather loud squeal; a few moments later, and a figure stepped out. He was a Yoshi, albeit leaner than what Victor had seen so far. His eyes were held in a rather glazed expression, and a tuft of unkempt red hair stuck out from in between his eyes. He was covered in green skin with a white underbelly and cheeks, and wore a leather vest. The tribesman and this Yoshi conversed for a few moments before departing, leaving Victor and the mystery brave alone. Said Yoshi finally approached, murmuring lowly, "My name is Yoshiro."

"Victor," the dragon mumbled flatly, folding his arms. "So you've seen this mystery killer?"

Yoshiro nodded. "Yes." He proceeded to look Victor over for a moment, giving a slight frown. "I don't know why on earth the chief would entrust such business to an outsider...but I'm sure his judgement has its reasons."

Victor narrowed his gaze in irritation, Yoshiro stepping into his tent and abruptly returning with a quiver of arrows and a bow in hand. "Come. I'll take you to where I last saw them."

**-Meanwhile-**

The orange creatures finally managed to drag Don Patch to a slightly more constructed area of the swamp, with a more solid ground and some stick homes all around, several other similar-looking creatures stood around, among them what looked to be an orange-haired human male, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts with some paint markings not unlike those on the creatures. One of the creatures carrying Don Patch gave off a squeak, prompting the man to turn around slightly. "Yes?"

The creatures proceeded to set Don Patch on the ground; however, he wasn't unconscuous, and was now laying on his side on a plate, drizzling some sort of sauce on him. "Dinner is served," the orange blob remarked smoothly, smirking confidently.

The man and creatures stared at Don Patch for a few moments, the sound of cicadas and frogs being the only thing that permated the air. Finally, the man spoke. "Who are you?"

"Who am I? I'll tell you who I am!" Don Patch shouted, abruptly hopping to his feet and pointing forward threateningly. "I am the coolest of cool, the greatest Hajikelist to ever set foot on Mysterra! I am Don Patch!"

The creatures seemed to become frightened of Don Patch's shouting, and began huddling around the man nervously, who frowned at Don Patch's loud display. "It's to be understood that you'd be scared," Don Patch remarked, setting one hand on his nonexistant side and waving the other around. "But don't worry, I'm humble, I'll gladly accept any and all requests for autographs and pictures!"

"You must be here to harm these Buizel," the man murmured rather stoically, narrowing his gaze.

In sharp contrast to his earlier comments, Don Patch now stared straight into space, beginning to jab a pinkie into his nose. "Mmm...the wha?"

The man blinked slightly, motioning to the nervous creatures. "These Buizel. Are you allied with the soldiers that came here and attacked them prior?"

Don Patch continued to pick his nose. "Uuhh...no? I have no idea what you're talking about."

With this comment, the man proceeded to step away near one of the stick homes, Don Patch continuing to pick his nose stoically as the man returned. "They come to our village and attack the Buizel...this is what they do."

He stepped to the side, revealling another Buizel; this one was, however, completely hairless, enabling all to see the fleshy pink skin underneath. It looked rather frightened and hid behind the man, Don Patch's eyes shooting open as he did a slight hop. "What?"

"Now you see what we have been dealing with," the man uttered, looking down at the creature. "Now tell me...are you allied with whoever has been doing this?"

Don Patch looked down, seemingly adopting a serious expression. "No, I haven't. But I know who it is that's been doing it..."

The man and Buizel all blinked in surprise, Don Patch looking up with a growl and holding up a clenchred fist. "Hair Hunters."

**-Meanwhile-**

"...and after that, I woke up and found myself here."

Patamon blinked in surprise upon hearing the last bit of Tails' story. "Huh..." He turned away slightly, reaching into his satchel and abruptly pulling out a rectangular piece of foil, unwrapping it to reveal a chocolate bar on the inside. "I wish I could say I feel sorry for you, but..."

Tails paused for a moment, glancing at Patamon with a curious expression. "But what?"

The creature came to a halt, hanging his head with a rather sad sigh before taking a bite of the chocolate bar. "The village where I live has been under attack lately by these bad guys...they seem to be looking for something."

Tails blinked in surprise. "...is that so?"

"Mhm," the little creature responded with a nod, gobbling up another piece of chocolate. "It's...another part of the reason I got so jumpy earlier..."

"That's alright," Tails responded, crouching down and giving Patamon another pat on the head to calm him down, and rather quickly getting a blush and stifled purr in response. _"Could the Army of Darkness be connected to this too...?"_

"Well...I know you're not intent on hearing about my problems," Patamon murmured, gobbling the last piece of chocolate down with a slight pant. "I can lead you to the port so that you can get going and regroup with your friends."

Tails blinked in shock, quickly standing up and shaking his head. "N-no, I can't leave you here to deal with these guys! I'll stay and help you out."

It was Patamon's turn to whirl to him in shock. "Wh-what? Y-you can't!" He quickly shook his head about, stammering, "Th-they're too poweful, I don't want you getting hurt over something that doesn't concern you!"

Tails turned serious, looking down slightly and lightly gripping his hands. "That's just the thing...I have a bad feeling this really does concern me..."

Patamon stared up at Tails with the same look of shock and apprehension as before, Tails looking back up at him. "Please, let me help. I've dealt with bad guys millions of times before, I can help you, trust me!"

Several moments of silence passed, Patamon looking down with a wince. "F-...fine..." He sighed miserably, turning around. "C-c'mon, I'll lead you to my village..."

"Thank you, Patamon," Tails responded with a slight nod, quickly trotting along to catch up with the pudgy creature.


	28. One Enemy After Another

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 28-One Enemy After Another

If Don Patch could even act serious, it would've been now; his eyes shot open, and his jaw opened slightly. "I believed that's what they called themselves," the man remarked, giving a slight nod and blinking. "You've heard of them?"

"Heard of them?" Don Patch responded rhetorically, now adopting a rather gritty tone and turning around on a randomly generated barstool, now having a rather nasty-looking scar on one of his eyes, a very noticeable five o' clock shadow, and a hook on his left hand. "They took something very precious from me..."

The Buizel all exchanged a slight glance, the human among them murmuring, "Really...?"

Don Patch nodded, turning back around to the randomly spawned bar in front of him, behind which a pig in an apron was cleaning a glass. "Yeah..." He proceeded to flip open a locket, peering inside with a serious gaze; inside was an image of Don Patch himself, proudly holding up a blender with teary eyes. "We used to make smoothies together every night..." the orange blob murmured rather lowly, gripping the locket and beginning to get teary eyed himself.

Those spectating exchanged a slight sweatdrop, the man murmuring, "Either way...you know who these Hair Hunters are, yes? Perhaps you could help us?"

Don Patch remained turned away on his barstool, staring ahead into blank space. "Maybe...depending on the price."

"What do you want?" the man asked, stepping forth slightly. "We don't have much, but we'll do what we can."

The orange blob glanced back at them, retaining his dark and gritty facade. "Once the Hair Hunters've been driven out, you help me get out of here."

The man nodded in understanding. "Yes, I'm sure we could-"

"And I'll need some of these," Don Patch continued, finally dropping his facade and beginning to pluck several sticks from the ground. "And some of these." Some branches were pulled from the nearby homes, causing one of them to tremble and fall apart. "And one of these." He grabbed a nearby Buizel and put it in a slowly growing pile, alongside several fistfuls of mud; the man and other Buizel simply continued to stare with rather blank expressions.

**-Meanwhile-**

Unlike Yoshiro, Victor was having a little bit of difficulty moving around the thick jungle, showing less proficiency than the Yoshi in leaping over upturned roots and going through shrubbery. "Tch...don't you guys garden even a LITTLE? How can you shoot or even walk around this place?"

"My people are fairly skilled survivalists and marksmen," Yoshiro explained, stopping to peek from behind a tree. "Whether it's with arrows or eggs."

Victor paused to give Yoshiro a curious stare. "...did you just say EGGS?"

Yoshiro didn't respond, instead hopping forth a little further and forcing Victor to sigh in irritation before following along. They didn't travel for very long before Yoshiro stopped him, lifting a hand up. Victor halted, only now noticing why; the smell of blood and burnt flesh hit his nostrils rather quickly. Yoshiro seemed to notice as well, and the duo quickly followed the source of the smell; they were quick in finding another Yoshi lying on the ground amidst a puddle of his own blood, with several burn marks all over him. Victor blinked slightly, mumbling, "This looks recent..."

Yoshiro bent down to the other dino, the two of them beginning to speak in the random squeaks Victor interpreted as their own language. As they spoke, Victor took the opportunity to examine the wounds; they didn't seem widespread enough to be magic-based fire, but they didn't look anything like the laser fire Victor was used to...

_"It's a derivative of a special type of material the Army uses...I would be careful not to get hit too many times if I were you, or else you'll risk having your entire body dissolved."_

The dragon furrowed his brow, looking over the slightly corroded skin of the Yoshi; given what Xemnas had said, this did seem like a viable connection. Victor narrowed his gaze, standing up. "I think I know who did this," he uttered lowly, earning a glance from Yoshiro.

"Is that so?" Before Victor could explain further, the Yoshi let out a rather high-pitched squeal that forced Victor to cover his ears, wincing rather visibly before looking back up. "Emergancy call. Some braves will be here to pick this one up." Yoshiro began walking off, prompting Victor to follow. "He says the culprit went in this direction."

Victor continued to walk after Yoshiro, as the Yoshi continued his explanation. "All he knows is that they utilized several arrows shrouded in bright light that burnt to the touch and seemed to devour his skin whole."

"Sounds like my assumption's right, then," Victor remarked, prompting Yoshiro to glance back at him. "He was talking about lasers." The dragon clenched a fist, holding it up to Yoshiro and continuing, "Enemies of mine seem to be behind this, which gives me so much more reason to stay and kick their asses."

Yoshiro furrowed his brow slightly, giving a small nod. "So, we share a common enemy?" Victor nodded, prompting Yoshiro to turn around and continue along the path. "This makes our mission so much easier. But are you completely certain that this enemy is the same?"

"Mostly," Victor responded, the duo now finding themselves climbing up a dirt ridge. "They did say it's a special type of ammunition, so the chances of it being someone else are real slim."

This was met with a slight sigh from Yoshiro. "If you say so, though I'm not as completely sure as you seem to be."

The duo finally clambered to the top of the ridge, peeking over and glancing at the ground below. Almost every single tree looked to have been plowed over, with enormous tread marks all over the ground. "...how did you miss THIS?" Victor mumbled flatly.

"It must be recent," Yoshiro responded, the duo's gaze going towards the end of the path, where the source of the destruction was slowly inching its way along.

A very large, red tank-like structure, almost 50 feet tall and even longer than that. Along with the predominantly red coloration, there were several black and gray portions of metal; all of them had a rather familiar emblem of a mustached face with a crazed smile. Victor narrowed his gaze, remembering all too well the large robotic warrior from Twilight Plains. "Well, this confirms it; I was right."

The dragon and Yoshi proceeded to slide down the ridge, hiding behind a nearby stump and staring at the tank. "How do we get inside?" Yoshiro mumbled lowly, glancing at Victor slightly.

Victor narrowed his gaze, looking over the surface quickly; he soon noticed an open vent in the side of the machine. "There. We'll crawl inside there."

Yoshiro followed Victor's gaze, noticing the ventalation shaft and nodding. "Very well." he proceeded to pull an arrow from his quiver, setting it up in his bow and expertly firing it off, smashing into the vent's cover and knocking it right off. Yoshiro put his bow away and began rushing towards it, Victor following quickly.

The duo arrived at the foot of the tank, looking up at the rather high-up shaft. Before Victor could reach for his grappling hook, Yoshiro had leaped upwards rather swiftly, managing to easily land inside of the vent and looking down at Victor. The dragon blinked, mumbling, "Does everyone of your species jump that high, or is it just you...?"

"It's a species thing," Yoshiro responded, opening his mouth. "I'll reel you in with my tongue."

Victor let out a rather irate scowl. "Uh, no THANKS. I'd rather claw my way up there than ride on your slimy, sticky-" The dragon was cut off when Yoshiro's rather thin tongue was extended like a whip, wrapping around Victor's arm and yanking him up into the vent, flopping onto the ground rather unceremoniously. He panted lowly and looked up at Yoshiro, giving him a deadly glare. "I am holding this against you."

"Fair enough," the Yoshi mumbled, beginning to crawl his way through. "Let's get moving."

**-Meanwhile-**

After several minutes of walking, Tails and Patamon had finally arrived at what must've been the town; several dirt and branch lodgings were set up all over the place, with a large variety of unusual creatures wandering about. Both looked around slightly, Patamon murmuring, "Sorry it's not very big or impressive..."

"N-no, it's perfectly fine," Tails responded, waving both hands about. "It looks very nice." Patamon looked up slightly, giving off a rather weak smile as Tails looked around slightly. "So, where are these bad guys...?"

Before Patamon could answer, several loud yells were heard from a different portion of the town, accompanied by several, more antagonistic shouts and roars. Both winced slightly, Patamon immediately gulping and shivering. "Th-they're here..."

Wasting no time, Tails began rushing towards the source of the noise, prompting Patamon to whine and quickly follow. The duo quickly arrived at a more open portion of the town; a somewhat small, blue skinned lizard-like creature was being cornered by several, rather unusually dressed figures wielding cutlasses and rifles. "You'd best tell us what you know about it, or else we're gonna be forced to take even more drastic measures than before!"

"I don't know nothin', I shwear!" the figure responded rather haughtily, stepping back slightly and prompting one of the figures to point their rifles at him.

"That's too bad," they responded with an evil smirk. "Because now you're gonna wish you had told us!"

"Ahem." Everyone's gaze went over to Tails, now standing nearby, with Patamon hiding behind him, wearing a look of horror. "You'd better leave him alone," he murmured lowly, doing a somewhat decent job of hiding his apprehension.

The figures turned their attention to Tails, growling lowly. "Oh really? And what'll you do if we don't?"

Tails responded to this by opening his hand, abruptly conjuring up what looked to be a white mouse-like device with blue ears. He tossed it to the ground, prompting the device to begin skittering towards them. "Chu Bomb."

The mouse abruptly exploded, forcing all of the figures flying backwards and prompting the other creature to quickly duck for cover. Tails narrowed his gaze as his enemies slowly stood up, growling lowly. "Wise guy, huh...? We've got a way of dealing with types like you!"

"Patamon, hide," Tails murmured; the little creature quickly obeyed and dove behind a nearby building, watching as several bullets were abruptly fired at Tails. The fox expertly avoided each shot with great proficiency, responding by summoning his arm cannon and pointing it forth. "Energy Ball!"

A fairly large bullet of energy was shot forth, impacting the middle of the figures and detonating again, causing them to scatter as several were thrown back. Tails, however, took this time to dash towards the group, getting right in the middle and generating a boxing glove on one of his hands. "Magic Hook!"

Tails abruptly span around, causing the glove to extend on a spring, smashing into the others and sending them flying backwards, finally having felled them all. Tails re-extended the glove and skidded to a halt, looking around as the other creatures stared in amazement, Patamon peeking form behind the house. "W-...wow..."

The others abruptly stood up, some of them rubbing the injured spots with a scowl. "Tch...it'll take more than that to take us down!" one of them called angrily.

Tails furrowed his brow, clenching both fists. "We'll see about that."

With this comment, all of them charged forth, swords extended. Tails, however, began spinning his namesakes about, generating a small cloud of dust around him and causing both to become a blur. Patamon's eyes widened in shock as Tails narrowed his gaze, now crouching slightly. "A little bit more...and...NOW!"

Tails abruptly shot into the air right as the group came within striking distance, causing them all to smash into each other rather unceremoniously, collapsing into a crumpled heap. Before any of them could even atempt to stand up, however, a rather noticeable beeping reached their ears; another Chu Bomb had been placed right underneath them. Tails smirked slightly and snapped his fingers together, murmuring, "Gotcha."

The mouse instantly exploded, generating a large cloud of smoke and sending several of the figures flying backwards, toppling all over the ground, a good portion of them now unconscious. All of the creatures abruptly broke out into applause, Tails alighting on the ground with a slight pant as Patamon rushed to his side. "Th-that was amazing, Tails!" the little creature squeaked, unable to hide a rather wide smile.

Tails glanced at him with a slight smile, panting and standing up a little straighter. "Th-thanks...just one of my takes on my friend Sonic's moves..."

Both looked up slightly, taking note of those that hadn't been knocked out by the attack staggering to their feet and gathering up their fallen allies. "Y-...this isn't over..." one of the figures growled, all of them quickly beginning to retreat. "We'll be back tomorrow! And this time, we'll bring our leader with us..."

Patamon's formerly pleased expression turned to one of anxiety, his eyes widening slightly as the last of the enemies disappeared from view. "Th-...their leader...?" the little creature mumbled, glancing at Tails with a scared expression. "Th-that doesn't sound good..."

Tails managed to stand up straighter, swaying slightly and glancing at Patamon. "You said they seem to be looking for something...any idea what it may be?"

The little creature looked down, giving another shiver and shaking his head. "N-no, not really..."

"Do you think there's anyone here that may have an idea?"

Before Patamon could assure him that there wasn't, he seemed to have a momentary stroke of inspiration and looked up. "I-I think...the one in charge of our village may know."

Tails nodded in response, bending down to Patamon and murmuring, "Could you please take me to him?"

The little creature pursed his lips nervously, looking down and wincing with a slight sigh. "A-alright...f-follow me..."


	29. Unbelievable News

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 29-Unbelievable News

After squeezing through the ducts for several minutes, Victor and Yoshiro managed to find another cover at a dead end, prompting them to stop. On the other end, they both heard moaning and squeaking; Yoshiro blinked in surprise. "My people are on the other side..."

With this comment, Victor squirmed about and abruptly kicked off the cover, sliding through and landing on the ground with a crouch, Yoshiro following after. Both looked up, their eyes widening slightly. "What the hell?"

They were in a rather large room filled with cages; inside each was another Yoshi, maybe even more than one in a single cage. The duo continued to look all around, the captive Yoshi letting out several hysterical squeaks and shouts upon noticing the duo. Yoshiro quickly began shushing them, glancing at Victor and murmuring, "We have to get them out, and fast."

Victor nodded and approached one of the cages, cracking his fingers and stretching both legs. "Let me handle this." With this comment, the dragon abruptly delivered a straight kick right to the bars; this, however, only served to let out a somewhat audible crack and floored Victor, the dragon howling angrily. "AGH, THE HELL?"

"Are you alright?" Yoshiro asked, helping Victor to his feet and looking over the dragon's injured leg.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine," Victor growled lowly, sighing. "Those've gotta be some tough bars..."

Yoshiro approached the cages, narrowing his gaze and bending down to look at the bars coomposing them. Even with someone as inexperienced in technology as he was, he could tell something was wrong by the faint traces of purple surrounding the bars, that didn't seem to have been damaged at all after Victor's strike. As the Yoshi continued to look over the bars, Victor had straightened himself out, making a few test kicks with his leg to ensure that it was still in working condition. "As much as I hate to say it, kicking the bars in doesn't look like it's gonna work..."

With this comment, Yoshiro stood back up, glancing at Victor. "But there are no locks on the cages. Something else must be keeping the bars in place."

Victor gave off a slight nod, scanning the room. "Maybe there's a switch or something in here. Split up and look around."

Both exchanged a nod and split up, scanning the interior of the room and continuously looking around, eyes scanning all over the place. Victor narrowed his gaze as he did so; from what he could have gathered from Tails' explanation of Eggman's mech, he might've kept important things in easy-to-find places. Before Victor could ponder this any further, he found himself tripping over an object jutting from the ground, flooring him very quickly.

"Are you alright, Victor?" Yoshiro called from the other side of the room.

Said dragon looked up with a growl, his gaze going to what he had just tripped over; a rather protruding lever set in a semicircular device which read "on". Victor blinked momentarily before smirking widely. "Yeah, I'm fine." He grabbed a hold of the lever and used it to pull himself up. "And it's about to get better!"

With this comment, Victor yanked the lever the other way, switching the display to "off". This had an instantaneous effect, all of the bars vanishing in a small flash of light and prompting the Yoshi to let out several excited shouts. "Yes!" Victor remarked with a smirk, clenching his fists.

All of the captive dinosaurs began flooding out, Yoshiro rushing forth and beginning to divert them towards the air duct. He gave off several commands via their native tongue, trying to keep them orderly. Victor simply watched with folded arms, giving off a slight smirk in the process. Yoshiro occasionally cast a glance at the dragon, however, his gaze was quickly diverted to Victor completely upon noticing that several round, orange robots toting blasters and lances were approaching. Yoshiro's eyes shot open, and he shouted, "Victor, behind you!"

The dragon blinked, quickly whirling around and barely blocking an incoming lance swipe from one of the robots. "Tch, I was wondering when we'd get some resistance!" Victor smirked widely, pushing the robot away and kicking it in the face, knocking it toppling backwards.

This prompted the others to begin firing several laser blasts at Victor, the dragon quickly deflecting each with a swing of his blade, even redirecting several to destroy each other, generating several explosions in the crowd. "I'll keep them busy, make sure they get to safety!" Victor called to Yoshiro, managing to rush into the crowd of robots and quickly swinging his sword about, slicing all of the surroundings robots to pieces.

Yoshiro stared with a slight blink, watching as Victor used both blade and fists to smash all incoming robots to pieces, soon generating several sizable piles of scrap metal around him. "Such ferocity..." Yoshiro mused to himself, shaking his head about and going back to the redirecting of prisoners.

Victor let out several hysterical laughs, soon managing to begin taking out the robots faster than they could arrive, resulting in him slowly carving a path towards the door. However, Victor was so distracted with his carnage that he was unaware of several disc like robots arriving from above, extending a pair of long tendrils with spiked insides, appearing like hands. Yoshiro's eyes widened, and he quickly pulled out his bow and several arrows, aiming them at the machines. "Victor, above you!"

The dragon cast a slight glance upwards, watching as Yoshiro fired off several arrows at once; all of the disc robots were speared straight through, exploding and causing several metallic parts to rain down, Victor even kicking about to send some parts careening into his enemies. "Heh, good call!" he shouted, giving a smirk as Yoshiro readied several more arrows, ready to shoot down any other robots that came for an aerial assault.

However, the Yoshi didn't pause to look behind him, where several other squid-like bots were beginning to descend. The other Yoshi gave off a panicked screech for Yoshiro to look around; by the time he did, one was already upon him, giving off a resounding glow from the gap in between its arms that abruptly ensnared Yoshiro, causing him to float upwards and become restrained in the middle. His eyes widened as he thrashed about in an attempt to get free, completely unable to move amidst the anti-gravity field. "Gah! Victor!"

Said dragon slowly looked around, just in time for several more squids to lunge at him. "The hell?" he growled lowly, trying to slice at the robots with his sword; however, they managed to evade all of the strikes by levitating into the air, forcing Victor to leap after them. He was, however, just as quickly grounded when one of the many laser-toting orange robots fired a laser at him, striking his shoulder and caising the dragon to shout, quickly grounding him and reducing Victor to one knee. "Gah!"

With Victor incapacitated, one of the squid robots abruptly lunged forth, suspending him in the same anti-gravity field that left Yoshiro unable to move. The dragon thrashed about angrily, growling, "Hey! Lemme go!"

None of the robots complied, instead beginning to float out of the room as the duo cast a momentary glance at the Yoshi captives, watching as the last one crawled into the duct. "Well...our rescue mission was a success, at least..." Victor grumbled flatly.

**-Meanwhile-**

Tails had finally been led to a larger building in the village, Patamon stopping once they arrived at the front. "Well, this is where our leader stays..."

The little creature pushed open the doors, allowing Tails to look inside; several torches were set up in the room, and at the very end of the room was a very tall, human-like figure; he wore a helmet over his face and had six large angel wings protruding from his back, as well as a blue sash and white jumpsuit. He sat at a table with a lit candle on one end and a bowl of what looked to be fruit on the other; in one corner of the room was a small stand with a metallic covering. "Tails, this is our chief Angemon," Patamon explained, pulling out another chocolate bar to snack on; it was only after looking at this and the bowl of fruit, combined with the fight that he had just dealt with, that Tails realized how hungry he was, beginning to make him wonder exactly how long he had been unconscious.

"A visitor?" the angelic figure remarked, standing up straight. "Odd. What is your name?"

The fox cleared his throat and took a slight step forward. "Sir, my name is Miles Prower. I'd prefer to be called Tails, though."

"Fair enough," the figure, Angemon responded with a slight nod. "What bring you to our fair village?"

Tails rubbed the back of his head, looking away slightly. "Well...it's a long story...but..." He looked back up, murmuring, "I hear you have a bit of a problem with people attacking your village..."

Angemon seemed to go serious - or at least more serious than he already was - and sat back down in his chair. "I see...yes, we have been having problems with intruders."

"Tails managed to fight off today's raid all by himself," Patamon remarked rather quickly, Angemon giving off a surprised expression and glancing at the fox boy.

"Is that right?" Tails gave off a rather bashful blush and looked away, folding his hands behind him.

"Y-...yeah, but..." He looked back up, returning to his serious position and continuing, "They're coming back tomorrow with their leader."

Angemon looked down slightly, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression. "I see...that does pose a problem."

Tails nodded and took a slight step forward. "I'm sorry for prying, but I need to know...do you have any idea what they could be after?"

The angelic figure looked down slightly in thought, giving off a thoughtful hum. "Hm...I have...a slight idea." He proceeded to stand up, explaining, "Some of our villagers found something a few weeks ago, and afterwards we began experiencing attacks almost daily from these oppressors."

Tails' gaze followed Angemon as he approached the metallic covering in the corner, slowly opening it up; inside were what looked to be two gemstones cut in a hexogonal, triangular prism shape. One was colored a golden yellow, while the other was white. "These are what we had found," Angemon explained, glancing at Tails, who now had wide eyes and an agape jaw.

"B-...but those are..." The fox took a slight step forward, his eyes seemingly widening further and appearing to reflect the faint glow the gems gave off. "C-...Chaos Emeralds!"

Angemon and Patamon both looked up, staring at Tails. "You know what these are?" the angelic figure asked curiously.

Tails glanced at Angemon and gave off a quick nod. "Y-yes! Seven gemstones with incredible power, producing limitless energy from pure thought..." He turned back to the stone, blinking. "How on earth did they get here...?"

"Like I said, some of my villagers discovered them," Angemon explained giving a slight nod. "I wouldn't know, but from what you're saying these gems have incredible power."

"You have no idea," Tails mumbled lowly, looking down. "Those guys didn't seem to be with Eggman, though..." The fox looked away, folding his arms and tilting his head to one side, mumbling to himself, "Could they maybe be with the Army of Darkness...?"

Angemon and Patamon exchanged one more glance, the little creature mumbling, "W-well...if you know what they are, and what they're capable of..."

Tails looked back at the little creature, bending down and patting him on the head with a smile. "Don't worry, I'm going to help protect this place." Patamon's eyes widened in shock as Tails stood up, glancing at Angemon. "All I ask is that I take the Emeralds with me once the attack has been diverted. They're safer with me than they are here..."

The angelic creature seemed to put some thought into this, humming to himself. "...alright, I will allow it. Your intentions seem pure and your knowledge of their capabilities unparalleled."

Another blush permeated Tails' face as he rubbed the back of his head. "H-hehehe...I wouldn't know about all that..."

"Regardless, I will allow you to take them once the attack has been diverted," Angemon responded with a nod. "You said they will come tomorrow, so we need to be prepared for the upcoming battle."

Tails responded with a nod; before he could say much else, however, a resounding growl came from him, causing the fox to blink and blush deeper, looking down and folding his arms in front of him. "Hm?"

"I'm...pretty hungry right now..." the fox mumbled sheepishly, rubbing a foot on the ground. "I don't know how long it's been since I last ate...I actually don't even remember how or when I got here..."

Angemon and Patamon exchanged another glance, the angelic figure responding with a light chuckle and glancing at Tails. "Alright then, we'll prepare a meal for you. No use in fighting on an empty stomach."

Tails looked up with a rather relieved smile, Patamon grabbing a hold of Tails' hand. "Come on, I'll show you where we can grab a snack!" The fox proceeded to toddle along after Patamon, his mind wandering with the question of how long it had been since their fight with Xemnas and Stewie...and what Chopper had possibly been doing.

**-Meanwhile-**

Four days...it had been four days since the Solar Castle had been retaken, and the Nobodies driven out. And yet, there had still been no sign of Victor, Don Patch, or Tails. Chopper was beginning to worry for the well-being of his team; granted he wasn't their biggest fan, however, he had grown to like the trio despite all of their shortcomings, and he was worrying to no end over their safety. He could only hope Shuurai could find them.

The reindeer currently sat in the mess hall amongst the captain's tables, shovelling food into his mouth before leaning back with a contened sigh, opening one of his eyes slightly. His gaze had went to the rest of the captains, who had been chatting amongst each other the entire time and occasionally casting a glance at him. Chopper leaned up in his chair and blinked slightly while staring at the other captains, giving a slight sigh. "They've been chatting non-stop amingst each other all day..."

"Chopper." The reindeer jumped slightly and looked up; a humanoid figure was standing in front of him, wearing a long black robe with a white sash. His crimson red hair was tied into an unkempt ponytail, allowing the white headband around his head and the several black tattooes underneath to be seen.

"Renji?" Chopper mumbled curiously, sitting up with a blink. "What is it?"

"Commander Otohime wishes to see you," he explained, adopting a stoic expression. "It's...very serious."

Chopper's eyes widened in anxiety; this had to have involved his team. He hopped out of his chair and followed the human, Renji, through the hallways, both remaining silent though Chopper continuously cast him a glance. "What...what's this about?"

Renji didn't respond, continuing to stare ahead as they arrived at a door, a nameplate on the side reading "Commander Shuurai Otohime". Renji knocked on the door, resulting in it opening and revealing Shuurai on the other side. Instead of the warm smile he usually had, he responded with a strict nod. "Please, come in."

The reindeer gulped nervously and stepped inside as Renji went to turn away; however, Shuurai stopped him by grabbing a hold of the human's shoulder. "Captain Abarai, I feel you should be here for this."

Renji cast a slight glance at Shuurai and entered as well, the hybrid closing the door as they all looked around; a standard quarter with some maps on the walls, a few candles and torches, among other things. Chopper's gaze went to a nearby desk, which had several pictures on it; they all had the same three figures on it. Shuurai himself, a pink-furred female creature of the same unknown species, and a small boy, also of the same species; Chopper's gaze was kept on the young one in particular, as throughout all of the pictures he seemed to get older, meaning they must have been in some sort of chronological order. As the boy got older, a previously cheery smile seemed to deteriorate into stoicness and an empty gaze, until the final one featured him with an almost completely blank expression. About halfway through the sequence a black-furred creature in blue with enormous ears that drooped down the side of his head was inserted into the pictures, usually being rather close to the boy as if they were very close friends.

"I see you've taken an interest in my family portraits." Chopper's gaze was torn when Shuurai spoke up, causing the reindeer to jump and blush brightly.

"S-sorry, I was just-"

"It's alright," Shuurai responded, his smile finally returning. "I often find myself captivated with the lovely family I've raised myself." He gave off a slight sigh, looking out of a window with what could have been interpreted as a longing expression. "We take a family picture every year during my down time."

Chopper gave a slight nod and looked back at the family of strange creatures for a moment, only to be interrupted when Renji cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir, but you said you needed Chopper for something."

Shuurai's serious gaze returned, and he glanced back at the duo. "Ah. Yes. Of course, I'm sorry." He folded his hands behind him and turned away, Chopper glancing back at the hybrid. "Chopper, we've found evidence that may lead to us discovering the whereabouts of your team."

The reindeer's eyes widened, and a smile came across his face. "Really? Where are they?"

Shuurai pursed his lips together and looked down, Renji giving off a slight sigh. "Should we just tell him...?"

Chopper's excited gaze turned to one of anxiety and fear. "T-...tell me what...?" he mumbled lowly, glancing at Renji in confusion.

"It's...better if he sees for himself," Shuurai responded, scooping up a picture from his desk and holding it before Chopper. "This was taken from security footage at Twilight Plains yesterday."

The reindeer quickly scanned the page, his expression slowly turning to one of pure horror. "N-...no...it...it can't be..." Chopper very slowly grabbed a hold of the page, his hooves trembling as his eyes darted across the image, portraying Victor, Don Patch, and Tails fleeing from several guards while carrying a glowing orb of energy.

"Chopper..." Shuurai murmured, closing his eyes. "According to these images and eye witness reports...your team has stolen the Twilight Essence."


	30. Return of the Eggman

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 30-Return of the Eggman

Chopper's grip slowly loosened on the page, the picture slowly falling to the ground at Shuurai's feet. "B-...but...h-how..."

"That's what we'd like to know," Renji remarked, folding his arms and glancing at Chopper. "I knew you were always gullible, but really? It wasn't obvious they were up to no good?"

The reindeer turned to Renji rather forcefully, stammering, "Th-this can't be right! They couldn't possibly have done this!"

"And how do you know?" the human replied as-a-matter-of-factly, folding his arms. "You believe almost everything else you're told, why not-"

"Renji, Chopper," Shuurai remarked; the forcefulness in his tone caused both to immediately whirl around to him and bow in apology. "We can't go by the assumption that they did this just yet. For all we know they could have been framed."

The duo blinked, Renji folding his arms slightly. "Not that I'm saying you're wrong, but...why frame some low-ranking soldiers when whoever could have been responsible could've blamed someone of higher rank?"

"A few reasons," Shuurai responded, folding both hands behind his back before lifting one of them, lifting one finger. "They'd have to have framed someone that was close by. No one knows where exactly those three are yet, so they got a free pass there. They couldn't have framed a Twilight Society soldier because if they HAD stolen it, they likely would have ran off instead of biding their chances by hiding such a powerful artifact underneath the Celestial Alliance's nose. That'd be both difficult and foolish."

Chopper and Renji exchanged a slight glance, the latter rubbing his face with a slight sigh. "Alright, you've got some good reasons..."

"I'd be willing to say that there are more personal reasons pertaining to the trio themselves, but I can't be completely certain of that," Shuurai continued; Chopper was brought back to the group's battle with Eggman back in Twilight Plains, remembering Tails and Sonic's familiarity with the madman.

"So...what do you want us to do?" Chopper asked lowly, looking up with a nervous expression.

Shuurai turned away from the duo, closing his eyes with a light hum. "Mmmm...we'll have to do a little bit of investigating. Look for clues and information that can lead to their innocence." He cast Chopper and Renji a glance out of the side of his eye and continued, "The only information we have to go on at this very moment are that they could be anywhere in Mysterra, and the security cameras and photographs we've taken. Going by eye witness accounts is also useful, but we can't be too forward in our search or else we'll become potential suspects as well."

Renji folded his arms with an understanding nod, Chopper gulping. "P-please, Commander...don't you have ANY idea where they could be?"

The hybrid and reindeer stared off for several moment, Shuurai's serious gaze permeating Chopper's nervous one. "...actually...I have been looking into it." He proceeded to pull out a folder, handing it to Chopper and explaining, "This information was gathered going by the assumption that your team DID capture the Essence. We managed to find some unusual energy signatures in a few different areas that might lead us to their location."

Chopper proceeded to flip through the folder, scanning all of the pages quickly. "It might be them, it might not. But it's one of the few leads we have to know where they actually are."

Renji peered at the pages as well, furrowing his brow. "Two spots all the way in Twilight Plains...and one on the southern continent?" He looked up at Shuurai, and remarked, "How are we going to get to all of those quickly?"

The hybrid's warm smile finally returned, and he gave off a slight chuckle. "I managed to persuade Silver to begin investigations in all of the aforementioned areas." When Chopper's eyes widened, Shuurai waved it off with a flick of his hand. "Don't worry, I've managed to pull a few strings to ensure we'll have someone supporting us in all three operations. Believe it or not, it's not just the two of you I have on my side in this little situation."

Chopper and Renji both gave off a blink, glancing at each other. "Then...who is it...?"

**-Meanwhile-**

Several minutes passed, and Victor and Yoshiro finally found themselves entering a larger room with several computers scattered around, as well as a window granting a view of the path in front of the tank. They must've been in the control room.

"Gahahahaha! This is too easy!" And the familiar, grating voice at the front seat must've been the one in charge of it.

Victor narrowed his gaze as one of the robots spoke up. "Doctor, the intruders have been captured."

The figure at the front abruptly turned around in his seat, enabling Victor to see the familiar, round, red-coated man at the helm. Both stared off for a moment, the man abruptly beginning to twiddle his fuzzy brown moustache and narrowing his gaze. "Well well well, what have we here? If it isn't the OTHER, more recent blue rodent that's decided to keep sticking his nose in my plans!"

"Do I look like a rat to you?" Victor growled lowly, earning a snicker from his captor. "...don't answer that, you're too biased. Yoshiro." Victor's eyes trailed to the Yoshi. "Do I look like a rat to-"

"Victor, do you know this man that has been senselessly destroying my home and killing my fellow Yoshi?" the reptile mumbled rather bluntly, his eyes trained on their captor.

Before Victor could respond, the man let out a hysterical laugh and stood up, lifting one hand into the air in an elaborate fashion. "Fool! I am Doctor Robotnik, esteemed lead scientist of the Army of Darkness!"

"The who?" Yoshiro mumbled blankly, giving a slight blink.

"No, the Army of Darkness," Victor responded bluntly, glancing at Yoshiro slightly. "Some insane creeps that're trying to take over Mysterra. I've dealt with fatso over there before; one of my..." Victor paused to find the right word. "...acquaintances called him Eggman."

The scientist, Eggman, frowned slightly and sat back down in his seat. "I wouldn't adopt a lip if I were you, lizard. All I have to do is say the word and you'll have more holes in you than a hunk of Swiss cheese!"

Victor narrowed his gaze with a slight growl, cut off by a resounding beeping sound from the nearby console. Eggman whirled around to it, murmuring, "Oh...? Do my eyes deceive me?" A few more beeps, and Eggman leaned into the console with a smirk quickly growing over his face. "It is! A Chaos Emerald!"

_"It's nothing really, just one of my inventions. I can summon several different technological weapons from my glove via some special form of Chaos Control."_ Victor blinked as Tails' words echoed through his head once again.

"Chaos...Emerald...Control...?" the dragon mumbled to himself, watching as Eggman pressed another button, prompting a surprised blink from the man.

"Wait...TWO Emeralds?" Eggman burst into spontaneous laughter, leaning back in his chair and lifting both hands. "It must be my lucky day!"

Victor narrowed his gaze, glancing at Yoshiro slightly as the dinosaur began discreetly sticking his tongue out of his mouth, trailing it up the back of his head and beginning to wrap it around one of the limbs of the robot ensnaring them. Eggman remained blissfully unaware, laughing, "This is too good! I'd best let the boss know that it was a succe-"

Eggman's comment was abruptly cut off when Yoshiro pulled his tongue back, severing the arm of his captor and causing it to let him free with a loud buzzing. Not wasting any time, the Yoshi continued with his assault and shot his tongue into the arm of Victor's captor, knocking it off balance and disrupting the anti-gravity field. Victor was just as fast, shoving one hand up and jamming his claws into the bottom of the disc-shaped portion of its body, ripping it to shreds all before Eggman turned around, his eyes shooting open. "What?"

A wide, fanged smirk made its way onto Victor's snout, the dragon gripping his sword and pulling it out. "I'm about to make a terrible egg-related joke before crushing your skull in."

The doctor quickly stepped back, quickly slamming a fist on a nearby button. "All forces to the control room, no-"

Eggman's command was cut off when Yoshiro very quickly fired an arrow at the control panel, impacting it directly and causing it to give off a large spray of sparks. "Hey! I just fixed that!" the doctor shouted angrily.

"Don't worry," Yoshiro responded, aiming another arrow at Eggman. "This one won't miss."

The human's eyes widened as Victor lunged forth with a loud roar, lifting his sword up. Thinking quickly, Eggman pulled out what looked to be a laser pistol and shot the sword right out of Victor's hand, causing him to blink and quickly change tactics, landing on one foot and using the other to kick Eggman right in the stomach, knocking him into his seat rather forcefully. "Oof!"

"Now then," Victor remarked with a smirk, clenching his fists and leaning towards Eggman maliciously. "I suggest you beg for mercy, and MAYBE I'll let you go with minimal injuries."

Yoshiro couldn't help but stare at Victor as Eggman gave off a nervous grunt, one of his hands absent-mindedly trailing down the side of his chair's armrest. "I...don't think so!"

With this comment, the man forcefully pressed a button on his armrest, suddenly causing a glass basing to come up from underneath Victor, knocking his foot away and causing him to topple backwards as the area around Eggman's chair began levitating upwards, now revealing itself as the same hovercraft he had escaped in prior. "I still win this round, lizard! I have what I came here for! And you're going to be lucky to make it out of this alive!"

A resounding beep was abruptly heard from a nearby console, Victor glancing at a nearby screen as a metallic, female voice emanated from the device. "Self-destruct sequence in t-minus thirty seconds."

Victor gave off an enraged growl, his gaze going back to Eggman's hovercraft as it shot out of a hole opening in the ceiling, enabling him to leave the machine. A tractor beam was then shot from the bottom of the hovercraft, hitting a portion of the ground outside. Now levitating up the beam were two small, glimmering objects; Victor gave off a slight growl as Yoshiro pulled out another arrow, this one having a small stone attached to it. "I don't think so," the Yoshi responded bluntly. "You mercilessly invade my home and slaughter my kind. You will not leave unpunished. Explosive Shot!"

The arrow was swiftly shot at the tractor beam ensnaring the glimmering objects, impacting directly. The attack didn't end there, as the stone attached to the arrow exploded, shrouding Eggman's entire craft in a cloud of smoke and flames and causing the two shining objects to abruptly drop back to the ground. "Alright, let's get out of here!" Victor growled, rushing towards the glass and holding his arm forth, ready for a tackle. "GRAAAAAA-"

Victor's battle cry was cut off when he impacted the window, which did not budge a single inch despite the great force. He slowly slid down, Yoshiro watching as the opening Eggman escaped through closed up. "Self-destruct in ten seconds. Nine. Eight."

Victor slowly stood up, giving off a loud growl. "No...I won't..."

"Seven. Six. Five."

The dragon stood up, growling and taking a small step back and clenching both fists. "Yoshiro, get ready to run. This window IS going down."

Yoshiro gave off a slight blink and nodded, crouching slightly as Victor slid his foot back ever so slightly. "Four. Three. Two. One."

"GRAAAAHHHHH!" With a mighty battle shout, Victor abruptly plowed his foot into the glass at the same moment as Yoshiro broke into a run towards the glass. A blue flash of light seemed to emanate off of the glass as it was shattered to pieces, followed by the entire tank bursting into flames with a massive explosion, engulfing the duo in the process as well. "GAAAAHHHHH!"

From the inferno, Yoshiro lunged out, having speared Victor in the back and sending both flying to the ground rather harshly, toppling down and skidding to a halt rather painfully. "Guh..." Victor opened one eye with a very pained expression, the duo's bodies bloody and charred from their close proximity to the explosions. His fading vision was able to pick up what seemed to be two cleanly cut gems in front of him; one colored a light blue, the other a darker navy blue. Victor weakly extended a hand towards them with a pained grunt, managing to wrap his claws around them both before completely blacking out.


	31. The Army Invades

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 31-The Army Invades

An entire day had passed since first arriving at the swamp; the human leader and Buizel were currently setting up last-minute defenses, such as crudely pointed sticks in a wall all around the village, rope traps, and other such devices. "Don Patch, you should be preparing," the human murmured, glancing at the orange blob.

Don Patch had been, during this time, repeatedly smashing a punching bag hanging from nowhere, wearing a pair of boxing gloves and trunks. Another Don Patch stood at the side, wearing a towel around his neck and a moustache. The spectating Patch turned to the human leader, and practically screamed, "HE'S A WRECKING MACHINE!"

The human didn't opt to make heads or tails of this, instead turning about as a Buizel entered the village, giving off several hysterical squeaks and waving its paws about. "The Hair Hunters approach," the human uttered, looking up slightly as Don Patch stepped next to him, cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

"That's their first mistake," the orange blob uttered menacingly, the group looking over the stick wall at an incoming group of figures; all of them wearing menacing armor, and being completely bald. All had a very menacing expression, crazed smiles, and fingers that twitched about, seemingly in constant pursuit of a target. "And their second mistake is taking a formation like that!"

Before anyone could say anything else, Don Patch leaped over the stick wall, stopping in front of the charging Hair Hunters and prompting them to stop. The orange blob now wore a red jacket with a plumed hat and black pants. He blew a rather loud whistle that forced everyone to wince, Don Patch then pulling out a baton and pumping it up and down. "You guys just need a decent lead! One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two!"

All of the Hair Hunters stared at Don Patch blankly, the Buizel exchanging a glance as their leading human uttered, "What is he doing...? Is this some sort of strategy?"

The human's comment was proven wrong when Don Patch was sent flying backwards, smashing through the stick wall and right into one of the stick houses as the Hair Hunters came closer, smirking widely. "We are the Hair Hunters! By order of our grand ruler Tsuru Tsurulina, everyone must be made bald!"

With this comment, the Hair Hunters lunged forth with a loud battle cry, attacking any nearby Buizel with several savage, yet seemingly fluent hand movements that caused their fur to quickly begin falling out. The weasels caught in the attack were thrown into a frenzy, while the others broke into action, darting about and shooting powerful jets of water at their opponents. Several crashes and cries filled the air, while Don Patch sat up from his knocked down position, adopting a very serious expression.

"They have violated the marching band code," the orange blob uttered, now holding up his broken baton. "They...will...PAY!"

Letting out a loud shout, Don Patch rushed into the fray, the Hair Hunters glancing at him as the orange blob began letting loose a large flurry of punches. "Shimitare Bluuuuuueeeeeees!"

Every Hair Hunter - and even Buizel - in the way were abruptly sent flying backwards with great force, Don Patch practically carving a line right through the battling crowd and flinging combatants every which way. Everyone was forced to quickly leap to the side to avoid the frenzy, though even then this didn't help much as they were still mowed down. Finally, Don Patch skidded to a halt, eyes closed with the same serious expression as before. He opened both eyes, now more ridiculously detailed, and uttered coolly, "Oohh, yeeeaaahhh."

The Buizel that weren't caught in the attack gave off a slight "oohh" sound, while the Hair Hunters gave off a growl and stepped back slightly. The human Buizel leader uttered, "Such power...makes me feel fortunate that he's on our side."

Don Patch turned back around, facing the group of combatants and shouting, "ALRIGHT! Who's next?"

The Hair Hunters gave off a slight growl, only to be cut off by a light chuckle coming from behind Don Patch. The orange blob blinked and slowly looked around, watching as a fairly tall figure began approaching. "Well...I think it's only fair that it be MY turn."

The figure had very short, orange-red hair, a yellow bird-like symbol on his forehead over his wide, crazed-looking eyes. He wore a blue coat with a very spiky, frilled white collar, black slacks and a white shirt underneath. A smirk formed on his face as he uttered, "It's been a while, Patch..."

Don Patch's eyes widened as he took a slight step back, mumbling lowly, "What...it can't be...you're..."

"Tsuru Tsurulina the Third," the figure remarked with a wide smirk, motioning outwards with both hands. "Here to eliminate all humanity on Mysterra! Hahahahahaaaaaaa!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Tails was undergoing a similar process, several of the cretures around him getting defenses ready and making final preparation for the oncoming battle. Patamon hid behind the fox's legs with a very scared and anxious expression, while Angemon stood at the side, a serious expression on what could be seen of his face. "The battle draws near."

The angelic creature glanced down at Tails, who looked up with a slight shrug and nod. "I'm ready..." He glanced back at the gates; true, he was worried. After all, he didn't have Sonic by his side, or even Victor, Don Patch, or Chopper. The fox gave off a slight gulp, looking down and noticing Patamon staring at him. The little Digimon's worried expression was all Tails needed before he steeled himself, looking up with a nod. "They're coming."

Outside of the village, a crowd of the same unusually dressed figures waited, some of them now pushing along rather long cannons. Tails gave off a slight blink, murmuring, "Wait...those are..."

With a loud call, the cannons were abruptly fired, shooting several large cannonballs at the Digimon and forcing them to quickly scatter as several buildings were destroyed from the shots. "Attack!" Angemon called, motioning forward with his staff and causing those Digimon that hadn't been rattled by the initial attack to charge forward, firing off some projectiles and clashing with the attackers.

Tails, on the other hand, repeatedly looked around, Patamon stammering, "Y-you're not going to f-fight?"

"Not yet..." Tails responded, narrowing his gaze and staring at the cannons. "Something's off...those are naval long guns..."

Patamon stared at Tails blankly, watching as the Digimon continued to battle against the invading crew. "What...what's that?"

Tails proceeded to rush through the crowd, Patamon clinging to his nameskaes as he approached one of the cannons; the one manning it attempted to point it at the duo, only for Tails to expertly hop onto the barrel of the weapon and plow a foot into his opponent's face, knocking them flying back. Tails bent down and quickly scanned over the weapon, murmuring, "No doubt about it...long guns are a type of artillery with a longer than normal barrel."

The fox began running his hands over the barrel of the weapon, narrowing his gaze slightly. "Like I said, these are naval long gun-type cannons...as the name says, used mostly in naval warfare. These weapons are mainly used in fights on the sea..."

"B-but we're not at sea..." Patamon murmured, his eyes slowly widening. "Th-this is a land fight...s-so why are they..."

The duo's eyes abruptly shot open. "Patamon...you said...we were on an island...of the coast of Twilight Plains...right?"

The Digimon slowly glanced at Tails, whose eyes widened further as he snatched up the pudgy creature, dashing back into the fray. "IT'S A TRAP! THEY'RE GOING TO ATTACK US FROM THE OCEAN!"

Everyone slowly glanced at Tails, who had little time before a deafening boom was heard, knocking everyone off their feet as several more buildings were blown to pieces, sending bits of debris raining down. Tails very slowly looked up, quickly taking notice of something he hadn't noticed before; the village was on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was an extremely prime location...just their luck. Tails' eyes went to a few naval ships now headed towards them, blinking and narrowing his gaze slightly. "These...these guys are pirates..."

The ships finally hit the edge of the cliff, Tails crouching slightly and giving a low grunt as several bridges were laid down, several more pirates rushing down onto the battlefield and surrounding them. Tails clenched his fists as Patamon looked around with a genuinely frightened expression, both of them quickly beginning to notice an extremely tall figure approaching, easily more than 8 feet tall. Tails grunted lowly and looked up with a slowly growing look of apprehension on his face, mumbling, "H-he must be their leader..."

The man had very pasty, gray skin and a wide smile, a cigar sticking out of his mouth and generating a small crowd of smoke. He had long, thin, black hair and a scar running horizontally across his face. He wore a bright orange, pinstriped vest over a peach-colored shirt, black slacks, fancy black shoes, and a rather thick, dark gray fur coat draped on his shoulders. What caught Tails' attention the most, however, was the large, gold-colored hook on his left hand. He gave off a slight gulp, the man uttering, "Well well...I send some of my men to collect some Chaos Emeralds...and they're stopped by a little pup? I'm disappointed."

Tails abruptly blinked and frowned, taking a slight step back and grunting, "You must be with the Army of Darkness! Well you're not getting the Chaos Emeralds!"

This seemed to incite a smirk from the man, who gave off a slow chuckle and closed his eyes. "Kuhehehehehe...I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter, little guy." He waved his hooked hand about in front of him, murmuring, "You may not know who I am...but if you did, you wouldn't be standing up to me. So why don't you run back home to your mommy before I decide to make a pair of gloves out of you."

Tails gave off a slight wince in response, giving off a low growl before looking down, Patamon glancing at Tails with a shocked expression. "Hmph...that's what I thought," the man uttered, waving a hand about. "Men, take this entire village by storm...spare the fox for now, maybe he can act as a cabin bo-"

The man's comment was abruptly cut off when Tails flung his hand up, abruptly generating his arm cannon and shooting a large blast of energy at the man's face, generating a large explosion that caused him to lean back slightly. "You might be big...intimidating looking..." Tails growled, pointing his cannon at the man once again. "But I've been faced with odds like that before, and triumphed. I won't back down, no matter what you say!"

Patamon looked up at Tails with wide, amazed eyes, gawking for a moment. "W-...wow..." He was, however, cut off by some low chuckle from the surrounding pirates, all of them smirking and staring at the duo, who looked around slightly. "Wh-what's so funny?"

Their gaze went back to the pirate leader, the smoke from Tails' attack clearing. His face - now with half of it blown clear off - retained a serious and nonchalant disposition. Tails' eyes shot open in shock, his cannon trembling. "Wh-...wha-..."

"Hmph...feisty," the man uttered, some strands of a yellow cloud abruptly forming from the ground and wafting into the man's head. His body was steadily reformed, the wound vanishing and looking as though it had never even suffered an attack in the first place. "Confused? Alright, I'll clue you in on a little secret."

The man took a slight step forward, Tails stepping back in unison and blinking, giving an anxious gulp. "I have a special little power that enables me to turn my entire body into sand. I've mastered it so that I may now do it purely by reflex. Any attack you land on me will have absolutely no effect. You cannot win."

Tails' eyes widened further as he took a slight step back, the man holding up one of his hands and suddenly forming it into a spinning blade of sand. "I'll give you one last chance, little pest..."

The image of a dark city and a massive, four-legged machine passed through his mind, the fox wincing slightly as a grating voice echoed in his head,_ "You fool...away, before I make imncemeat out of you!"_

The fox blinked as his sight brought him back to the battlefield, his gaze narrowing as he looked up at the man, crouching. "I'm...not scared..." he uttered lowly, very slowly gripping his fists and gritting his teeth together. "I'm not scared..." His opponent furrowed his brow slightly as Tails took a step forward, looking back up at his opponent defiantly. "I can do this!"

A few moments passed in silence, the tall pirate closing his eyes with a chuckle. "If you say so...then I suppose your fate is sealed." He proceeded to lift the hand of spinning sand, calling, "Allow me to formally introduce myself so that your death is a more fulfilling one. My name is Sir Crocodile. Desert Spada!"

With this comment, the man, Crocodile, slammed his blade of sand into the ground, abruptly generating a powerful shockwave to split apart the ground in front of him and send a blade of pulsating sand through the ground towards Tails. Patamon gave off a very loud squeal as Tails leaped into the air, spinning his namesakes about to remain airbourne as the attack impacted a nearby piece of debris, causing it to explode. The fox narrowed his gaze, uttering, "My name is Tails...and I'm sorry to say, but you're not killing anyone today!"


	32. The X Factor

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 32-The X Factor

Not long after blacking out, Victor's eyes shot open. He thought he had woken up, but was proven wrong when an eerily familiar landscape greeted his line of vision. "...you have GOT to be kidding me."

The same broken wasteland. A familiar, slain, brutish corpse. Yup, the EXACT same dream as before. Victor frowned in irritation. "You know you're a violent guy if practically every dream you have involves you killing something."

Victor abruptly whirled around to the source of the voice; the exact same shaded figure from before, its yellow eyes trained on Victor while it perched itself on top of the Lunar Guild flag. "You!" Victor shouted, stomping towards it with a growl. "Get out of my head!"

The figure leaned back slightly, enabling Victor to see that they weren't exactly very tall, probably only about as tall as Tails was. "What?"

"You're the one that's causing all these weird dreams, aren't you?" Victor growled, clenching his fists with a growl. "Cut it out!"

A few moments passed in silence, the figure closing his eyes and lowering his head. "Geez...some thanks I get for trying to help you out."

"I don't need help, so..." Victor trailed off, giving a slight blink and leaning back for a moment, lost in thought. "...wait...what ARE you helping me with?"

The same dark clouds as before began rolling in, the short figure folding his arms and murmuring, "Victor, I'm trying to help you...these dreams are a warning."

Said dragon gave off a growl, stepping forth a little more and snarling, "A warning about what? Tell me!"

The clouds, however, were quickly beginning to swirl around the duo, said figure looking up slightly. "That's what I'm trying to figure out...all I know is that it's a warning about the future."

The figure looked back down at Victor, their young-sounding voice adopting an extremely serious tone. "And if you're not careful...all of Mysterra will be destroyed."

Victor's eyes widened slightly as the figure pointed a finger at him, uttering, "And YOU are the deciding factor."

"What?" Victor shouted loudly, the black cloud abruptly beginning to crackle before a lightning bolt smashed down on the flag, completely incinerating it and causing the figure on top of it to disappear. "What are you talking about? WHY ME?" Victor's comment was cut off by another bang, the dragon looking up as another lightning bolt came streaking down towards him. "WHY?"

"Victor!"

The dragon's eyes shot open once more as he belted out an ear-piercing scream, Victor jerking up in bed and panting profusely, a cold sweat trickling down his head. "Gah...ah...ah..."

"Victor." Said dragon quickly looked around, finding Yoshiro standing next to him; a quick scan of his surroundings told Victor that he was back in the Yoshi village, inside of one of their huts. "Are you alright?"

Victor gave off a slight pant and waved his hand about, uttering, "Yeah...I'm fine. Just had a nightmare."

Yoshiro stared at Victor as if he didn't believe this comment, but shook his head regardless with a slight sigh. "If you say so." The Yoshi stepped back, looking over Victor's bandaged body. "Can you move?"

The dragon took a breath and heaved a sigh before kicking his feet over the side of the bed, standing up with a stretch and grunt. "Yeah...I'm good..." Another stretch, followed by an audible crack, and Victor lowered his hands, glancing at Yoshiro. "How long was I out?"

Yoshiro looked down with a slight sigh. "One day. The Yoshis we rescued bruoght back some braves to rescue us once the mechanical monster was destroyed."

The memory of the destruction of Eggman's machine came back, Victor furrowing his brow with a slight nod. "Wait...what about those two...gem things?"

Yoshiro blinked and glanced back at Victor, giving a slight nod. "Our chief is currently examining them."

With this comment, Victor abruptly stood up, forcing his way towards the door. "Take me to him. This is important."

The Yoshi was unable to say anything as Victor began forcing his way towards what he assumed to be the square. There, as expected, he found the Yoshi chief standing in front of a large totem, the faint light of the gems visible. Victor rather forcefully cleared his throat, the chief glancing around at him with a slight blink. "Ah, you're awake. I must thank you for rescuing my people; it seems we were wrong to judge you."

"Yeah yeah yeah, judge a book by it's cover, yadda yadda yadda," Victor mumbled rather hastily, waving a hand about and stepping forward, his eyes trained on the glowing blue gems. "I'm gonna need those."

The Yoshi chief gave a surprised blink, Yoshiro stepping forth long enough to notice this conversation. "What...?"

"I know who was behind the attacks," Victor explained, adopting a very serious expression. "I know who they're working for. A very dangerous syndicate; they were after these gems. I'll bet they were levelling this whole place in an attempt to find them, which means they're not only very powerful, but sought after by people who want to ruin Mysterra."

The chief continued to stare at Victor with a serious expression, the dragon looking down slightly. "It's true I'm a jackass. It's true that I'm unfair at times. It's true that I'm selfish on more than one occasion. Overly violent, shit like that."

Victor then looked up, narrowing his gaze and barring his teeth slightly., "But if there's anything I despise more than anything else...it's evil. Villainous jerks who commit vile acts for stupid reasons." The dragon waved his claw about forcefully, calling, "I grew up on stories about how respected warriors slayed bad guys in the name of justice! And that's what I'm going to do!"

A clawed finger was pointed at the Yoshi chief, who stared at Victor's finger, then at the dragon himself. "So unless you want another, even more dangerous guy coming here looking for those things, you'll give them to me," Victor uttered, clenching his other fist. "And if you refuse...then I'll have no choice but to take them by force."

"Victor!" Yoshiro remarked haughtily, the dragon shooting him a glare as several surrounding braves pointed spears and bows at him, ready for an attack at any moment. Victor and Yoshiro kept a rather antagonistic gaze towards each other for several moments, though it was quickly becoming clear that the former's was winning out.

"Enough." The Yoshi chief's comment prompted everyone, including Victor, to glance at him. The older dinosaur closed his eyes, murmuring, "You have proven to be rather rude and demanding. Your fury is blistering and a danger to the innocent..." Victor let out a slight growl as the elder opened his eyes slightly. "...but it is a righteous fury that seeks to purge evil."

Victor's angered expression faded slightly, the dragon frowning as the elder grabbed both gems, handing them to Victor. "Be careful. Never lose sight of what is truly right."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Victor murmured, snatching both gems and stowing them in his vest. He turned away, pausing for a moment before looking down. "...thank you. Just because I would've mowed you down if you hadn't have complied doesn't mean I would've liked it."

A silence followed, all of the Yoshi casting each other a glance before Yoshiro stepped forward, glancing at the elder. "I wish to accompany Victor on his quest."

This prompted said dragon to glance around at Yoshiro, who turned back to him with a serious stare. "I do not feel my revenge for the death of my people has been fully avenged. In a way, we share the same goals. I wish to come with you on your mission to defeat these evildoers."

Victor fell silent for a moment, glancing at the elder, who closed his eyes with a slight sigh. "So long as our guest agrees to such terms..."

All eyes went back to Victor, who stared back at Yoshiro with a serious expression. A few moments later, and he smirked widely, murmuring, "Hmph. The more the merrier."

Yoshiro looked up, his serious expression seemingly lightened slightly as Victor turned back around to the other Yoshis. "I'm gonna need some supplies if we wanna make it out of here in one piece! Directions, other stuff! Chop chop, let's get it done!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Don Patch took a slight step backwards as Tsurulina lowered his gaze slightly, still chuckling to himself before straightening out. "What do you know, I didn't expect to see you here. How fortunate, huh?"

"You bet your sweet ass it is!" Don Patch abruptly retorted, stomping in front of him and waving a fist at the tall man. "You still owe me for that comic book you never returned! Now pay up!"

Tsurulina's smirk faded slightly, the man abruptly kicking Don Patch to the side and sending him careening into a nearby house with a crash. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot how annoying you rebels are."

With his attention diverted, Tsurulina turned towards the human Buizel leader, his eyes widening as the Hair Hunter began stepping towards him. "Now for the REAL reason I'm here..." A smirk carved its way onto his face. "There are two things here that I want."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the human uttered, Tsurulina closing his eyes with a chuckle and looking down.

"Is that so..." he uttered, before looking back up and holding up one hand, a red aura beginning to emanate from around his body. "Red Magic Shinken! Magic of the Thread!"

Suddenly, several strings shot out from Tsurulina III's sleeves, abruptly tying up the human and causing him to gasp. "Very well, if you don't know what exactly I'm looking for, I'll dumb it down for you," the Hair Hunter remarked, stepping towards him slightly. "Two magic gems."

"You're looking for gemstones? Well why didn't you say so!" The others' attention went back to Don Patch, who was now standing amongst a display case filled with a variety of jewelry and accessories. "We've got all sorts of gems and shiny rocks to impress that dream girl of yours! Just tell us what you'd like, and her happiness is all but guaranteed!"

Before Don Patch could say anything else, two halves of a box abruptly enclosed around him with a loud yelp, Tsurulina narrowing his gaze and turning towards the trapped blob. "Tch, I wouldn't expect YOU to know what I'm looking for." Another red aura, and he motioned to Don Patch, shouting, "Red Magic Shinken! Magic of the Box!"

Suddenly, several bladed objects flew out of nowhere, spearing into the box and resulting in many strangled screams from inside that caused the Buizel to gasp in shock. "Don Patch!" their human leader gasped, only for a dagger to abruptly be extended from Tsurulina's sleeve, then pointed at his neck.

"I've made my demands about as vague as I can get," the Hair Hunter remarked, grinning maliciously. "Now either tell me what I want to know, or else I'll shave more than just your hair!"

The human gave off a slight grunt, the boxes Don Patch had previously been encased in suddenly beginning to open up. Everyone glanced around to it; instead of Don Patch, they saw a large wheel of cheese, complete with a face, arms, and legs, with several holes on it. "Did someone order the Swiss?" said cheese uttered lowly.

Tsurulina gritted his teeth in anger, muttering, "What...how did-"

"You thought you could skip out on your vegan diet, didn't ya?" Everyone slowly turned around, finding Don Patch standing nearby, wearing a pair of sunglasses; two other humans now stood alongside him, wearing the same shades and black outfits. "We know all about your little conspiracy with cheese."

"W-wait, it's not what you think!" the cheese wheel abruptly stammered, only to be interrupted when Don Patch pointed a pistol at him, a green light emanating from it and forming a marker on the cheese.

"Shut up! You're going to pay for your crimes, Tsurulina," Don Patch remarked, both human accomplices pointing a similar pair of pistols at him.

"What? What are you talking about?" Tsurulina growled lowly, only for a bright flash of green light to abruptly be emanated from the weapons, smashing into Tsurulina and causing him to roar in anger before falling to his knees with a loud pant, steam rising off his body. "Gah...what..."

Don Patch approached Tsurulina, the human looking up as the orange blob shouted, "Now for a Don Patch Headbutt!"

With a powerful thrusting motion, the orange blob smashed his forehead into Tsurulina's, sending him flying backwards rather powerfully and smashing into one of the buildings, sending it toppling down and resulting in the blinking number "3000" to pop up from where the Hair Hunter currently lay. "What...what just..." the human uttered lowly, watching as the thread slid out from around him. "Was...that truly it?"

"No," Don Patch uttered, glancing back at the human with a very serious expression. "It's far from over. He was just one of seven evil Ys out to get me."

This earned a confused blink from human and Buizel, all of them glancing at each other as Don Patch lifted a clenched fist in the air, a comically serious expression plastered on his face. "You can call me crazy, but I WILL conquer all seven. It's...FOR LOVE."

"ENOUGH!" Don Patch was cut off by a rather loud explosion from where Tsurulina currently lay, sending several bits of debris flying outwards from the flash of light. Said human abruptly stood up, approaching Don Patch with a rather irate expression. "You've forced my hand, Patch. I was going to simply brush you aside so that I could get back to my mission, but it appears I'm going to have to deal with you myself!"

Said orange blob blinked as Tsuru Tsurulina planted both hands on the ground, the same red aura circulating around him. "Red Magic Shinken! Magic of the Swords!"

Suddenly, several bladed weapons began flying out of the ground around Tsurulina, the range expanding outwards and forcing Don Patch to quickly begin dancing about in a panic to avoid being stabbed from below. All this time, Tsurulina had lunged towards Don Patch, winding up a punch and shouting, "You're through!"

"I don't think so," the orange blob abruptly responded, casting a sneaky glance at Tsurulina and vanishing. The Hair Hunter's eyes widened as Don Patch reappeared behind him; now with several more arms, an elaborate headpiece, and a cloth outfit. Tsurulina looked around just long enough to see Don Patch wave all of his sprouted arms about, before smashing them all into the Hair Hunter, screaming in a rather feminine voice, "DREAMS DO COME TRUUUUUUUEEEEEE!"

"Graahh!" Tsurulina was sent flying across the field, smashing into one of the houses with a loud explosion and sending bits of debris flying everywhere. Don Patch landed as well and looked up, two now airbourne glimmers being visible. Tsurulina looked up from his spot on the ground, his eyes widening upon noticing the red and purple gems now falling back towards the ground. "The Chaos Emeralds!"

"I got it, I got it!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, rushing towards the landing spot with a baseball cap and glove on his hand, waving it about eagerly.

Tsurulina stood up with a growl, roaring, "Oh no you don't! Red Magic Shinken!" The man thrust both hands forward, sending a large spray of cards flying towards the gems. "Trump Audience!"

All of the cards sprouted arms and legs, grabbing for the gems and causing Don Patch to gasp. "No! I can't let them take the credit for my play! My team is counting on me!"

With this comment, Don Patch abruptly leaped high into the air, everything in the area seemingly slowing down as the orange blob and array of cards both lunged towards the gems. This was followed by a piano interlude seemingly out of nowhere, accompanied by the slowed down shouts of two groups of figures in newly established bunkers on both sides of the village, wearing opposing baseball uniforms and waving fists at the scene. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Don Patch's eyes widened in horror as he watched one of the cards manage to catch both gems, followed by several flashes of light coming from all around, accompanied by rapid shutter noises from spontaneously generated cameras. "No...this is my time to shine...MINE!" Don Patch roared, lunging at the card and tackling it to the ground, knocking the gems out of its hands. Tsuru Tsurulina's eyes widened as Don Patch kicked off of the object and grabbed the airbourne gems, resulting in a loud cheer from a randomly spawned crowd as Don Patch landed on the ground in a "cool" position, tipping his hat downwards before lifting up the two gems. "I WON!"

Another cheer from the crowd as one of the baseball teams from the bunkers rushed forth with a loud cheer, lifting up Don Patch over their heads and cheering, "Don Patch! Don Patch! Don Patch! Don Patch!"

"No!" Tsurulina abruptly roared, stomping on the ground forcefully and causing the red aura around him to intensify. The baseball team, Buizel, and their leader all backed away from him slightly, Don Patch sliding down from his perch as the Hair Hunter took a slight step forth. "You haven't won yet! I've still got one last trick up my sleeve!" With this comment, Tsurulina tilted his head back, shouting, "Red Magic Shinken! Magic of the Tongue!"

The Hair Hunter abruptly jerked his head back down, his tongue rocketing out and extending towards Don Patch, who leaped high into the air and prompted everyone to look up. "On the contrary, I won when this battle first began!" Don Patch retorted, beginning to descend and generating a rather bright yellow light from all around him. A faint light had also began generating from the two gems in his grasp, Don Patch abruptly landing in front of Tsurulina and lunging forth, roaring, "Take this! Shimitare Blues!"

A rather speedy and powerful barrage of punches were flung at Tsurulina, who staggered back with a grunt from each strike, Don Patch giving off a loud roar before landing one final punch that sent Tsurulina flying backwards rather powerfully, smashing into one of the stick walls and completely knocking it over with a crash. Don Patch landed on the ground, the spectating Hair Hunters stamnmering, "H-he completely defeated Tsuru Tsurulina III..."

With little else to be said, the Hair Hunters rushed off in a panic, Don Patch straightening himself as Tsurulina slowly forced himself to his feet, giving off a slight cough and looking up with a growl. "Tch...can't believe...it..."

Don Patch retained a serious expression as a door spontaneusly opened up behind Tsurulina, the Hair Hunter slowly backing away into it with a smirk. "You may've won this round, Patch...but I'm not done yet. This isn't a setback at all for the Army of Darkness...your world will crumble!"

With this comment, the Hair Hunter abruptly vanished through the door, which itself disappeared, leaving the human and Buizel glancing at each other. "Army of Darkness...what is he talking about?" The human slowly glanced at Don Patch, murmuring, "Do you know anything about-"

"Don't these look absolutely GORGEOUS?" Don Patch remarked in a very feminine tone, now wearing a large amount of gittering jewelry all over his body; topped off with the two gems he had just retrieved set in a pair of rings on his hands. "These new pieces top off the entire ensemble!"

The orange blob continued to strike several poses, the human and Buizel staring with a sweatdrop and finally lowering their heads. "Never mind..."


	33. Tails vs Crocodile

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 33-Tails vs. Crocodile

"Farewell, both of you. May your road be free of challenges, and your objectives be met."

Victor gave a smirk and nod to the Yoshi elder and the crowd that had gathered, Yoshiro giving another bow to the crowd and uttering, "Do not worry. I will bring vengeance to our people."

With a final goodbye call, the duo began walking out of the forest, now treading along a forest path in silence. "Where are you headed first?" Yoshiro asked, glancing at Victor.

The dragon looked down slightly with a serious expression. "Well...first things first, I need to find an aerial route to Lunar Hill. If I don't meet any of my teammates along the way, I'm gonna need help in finding them."

Yoshiro blinked in surprise, tilting his head to one side and asking, "Teammates? You work alongside others?"

"Three others," Victor mumbled with a small hint of distaste, the image of Don Patch, Tails, and Chopper going through his head. "We work for the Celestial Alliance."

The Yoshi gave a slight nod as Victor looked up, continuing, "We got separated after this really big mission. I don't know if it was just me that got flung to who-knows-where, but I'm gonna need to find them."

"I see," Yoshiro responded with a small nod. "I assume you're worried for your friends?"

The comment brought Victor to a grinding halt, the reptile casting Yoshiro a rather unimpressed stare. "First off, they're NOT my friends. The only reason I worry is because the rest of them..." He paused for a moment to reconsider his comment. "...well, two of them, are completely incompetent. I highly doubt they're surviving as well as I have."

Yoshiro paused for a moment to stare at Victor with a small nod. "So...your relationship is purely business."

"Exactly," Victor responded with a nod, beginning to walk off. "And don't think anything otherwise. I don't even LIKE them."

The Yoshi tilted his head to one side with a curious expression. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, now-"

"Let me finish," Yoshiro responded; though Victor had half a mind to clobber him, the dinosaur's serious expression shut him up. "You claim to not care about any of these teammates, and yet you worry over their well being."

"Because they're completely incompe-"

"I heard you, now let me finish," Yoshiro echoed once again, with a bit more forcefulness that caused Victor to glare at him. "In our village, if one of our men was a part of a hunting group and was felled in battle, they would simply be replaced; there was little else to be done. Wouldn't the same rule apply for your Celestial Alliance?"

Victor opened his mouth to respond, but found himself freezing. Yoshiro had a very good point...if Don Patch or Tails were lost or killed in action, he'd probably just find a replacement. But if that were true...why was Victor still worrying? He couldn't POSSILY have gotten any sort of emotional attachment to them...had he? When Victor didn't respond, Yoshiro closed his eyes and resumed walking. "I see. Perhaps you'll find you care for them more than you yourself may realize."

Yoshiro's comment snapped Victor back to reality, and he whirled around to the Yoshi with a frown. "I'm telling you, I don't like them! Now I WILL admit that I have a little bit of respect for Chopper, and Tails isn't NEARLY as aggravating as he could be, but Don Patch is downright impossible to work with! If anyone, I don't miss him at all!"

"Then why are you getting so angry and defensive?" Yoshiro asked, still not turning around and prompting Victor to storm after him.

"BECAUSE I'M NATURALLY ANGRY AND DEFENSIVE!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Crocodile looked up ever so slightly as Tails shot towards him, winding up a punch; before he could impact, however, Crocodile leisurely tilted his head to one side, following up by smashing Tails in the back with the blunt side of his hook, sending the fox toppling backwards and skidding to a halt near the cliff. He looked up with a slight grunt, turning around as Crocodile turned to face the fox. "You're pretty fast," the pirate remarked, holding up a hand and beginning to generate what looked to be a small, swirling tornado of sand in his palm.

Tails grunted in response and quickly swung both hands outwards, calling, "Chu Bomb!"

Several small mouse-like objects were scattered along the ground, scampering towards Crocodile, who looked down at them without any worry whatsoever. All of the devices abruptly exploded rather fiercely, Tails giving out a slight grunt and watching the smoke cloud billow from the epicenter of the impact. Suddenly, however, he heard a light shifting noise behind him, followed by Crocodile's voice in his ear uttering, "That was a fancy attack..."

The fox's eyes iwdened and he quickly whirled around, barely managing to avoid having his head taken off by Crocodile's hook. Tails quickly fell onto his back and rolled away, watching as his opponent changed their hand into what looked like another spinning blade of sand. "Barchan."

With this command, Crocodile swung his hand towards Tails, generating a large crescent blade of sand that quickly forced Tails to leap upwards and for Patamon to duck. The pirates behind them, however, weren't as lucky and were struck directly, knocked backwards with a loud cry. This didn't seem to be the most detrimental part, as the pirates impacted by the attack suddenly began withering, their skin taking on a very sickly gray tone and shrivelling up, leaving them as near-literal skeletons before falling down with a loud groan. Patamon's eyes widened in horror as he looked back, stamnmering, "Wh-...what..."

Tails, currently suspended in midair by his namesakes, stared at the pirates with a horrified gaze, Crocodile mumbling, "You made me attack my own men. Sneaky little bastard."

The fox looked back at Crocodile, who stepped forward with a small chuckle before lifting up his hand again. "But I suppose now you know one of my Devil Fruit's abilities...to suck the moisture out of anything I or my sand touches."

Tails' first worry immediately fell onto the dehydration ability, however, it was then rather quickly torn to the words "Devil Fruit". _"It is the power of the Hito Hito no Mi, a 'Devil Fruit'._" Shuurai's words came reeling back; this must've been a similar power to what Chopper had.

"S-...suck the moisture..." Patamon echoed, scooting back with a steadily more worried glance. "Y-...you can't be serious..."

"If I weren't, would my men over there be nothing but skin and bones at the moment?" Crocodile asked, motioning to the withered pirates before generating another small sand tornado in his hands. "Which reminds me, that you need to be punished for such an underhanded tactic. Sables!"

Suddenly, the tornado intensified, generating a large sandstorm that forced Patamon to quickly leap away in a panic, scampering out of range as Tails covered his face, wincing with a loud grunt from the sand whipping at his body. "G-gghh..."

"Consider yorself lucky I'm not drying you out right now," Crocodile called with a slight smile. "I want your fur to be in good condition for when I skin it from your body."

Tails opened one of his eyes slightly, just in time to notice Crocodile seemingly dissolve into the swirling tornado. "H-he's coming for a sneak attack..." Tails growled, quickly beginning to spin around rather quickly. "Cyclone!"

The spinning motion began distorting the sand around him, forming a small bubble of swirling wind around Tails that kept the sand out of range. This even prompted Crocodile to come to a slight halt before the fox, swinging his hook towards Tails and causing it to seemingly extend through a trail of sand attached to his arm. The fox had little time to react before he was reeled in, yanked towards Crocodile who smirked, forming a swirling mass of sand in his hand. "Sables: Pesado!"

Tails was abruptly smashed downwards by a rather dense blast of sand, plowing into the ground with great force and causing Patamon to gasp in shock, now safely out of range of the sandstorm. "T-Tails!"

The Digimon inched backwards slightly with a slight groan and shiver, quickly looking around in a panic and scampering off into the village. The sandstorm began dying down, allowing for Tails to very slowly try and stand up, shivering and grabbing at his slightly bloodied head as Crocodile reconstructed himself a short distance away. "Hm, you're sturdy for such a little guy," the pirate mused, tilting his head to one side. "That's a little admirable. It's a shame you have to be so stubborn, we could use someone like you."

Tails looked up with a small growl, very slowly standing up and swaying from side to side with a pant. "Gghh...y-you...I'm not done yet..."

Crocodile smiled slightly, giving a slight chuckle as he stepped forward. "Hm. That's too bad." He lifted up his hook slightly, uttering, "Perhaps I'll just go and kill you now then. Such a unique pelt should be worth a pretty penny..."

Tails gave off a grunt in response, backing away slightly; his retreat was, however, abruptly cut off when he heard Patamon squeal, "Tails!" Everyone looked around, very quickly taking note of the little Digimon flying overhead, now holding two familiar, glowing objects; the Chaos Emeralds.

Tails and Crocodile's eyes both widened as Patamon dropped them down over to Tails; the fox took off into the air after them, spinning his namesakes fiercely. If he got a hold of the Emeralds, he should fare a much better chance of defeating Crocodile. The fox went to grab at them, however, he was immediately interrupted when Crocodile materialized in front of him, smirking slightly. "I don't think so."

The Emeralds abruptly dropped into Crocodile's body, seemingly held in place by the sand as the pirate grabbed a hold of Tails' face, the duo rocketing downwards and smashing into the ground with great force. Patamon's eyes widened in horror and he gave an anxious shiver, Crocodile smirking slightly as Tails attempted to grab at his face. "It seems I've gotten what I came for..."

"M-mmph...let...me go...!" Tails growled to himself, squirming about as Crocodile gave a slight frown.

"Hmph...feisty. It really IS a shame you're choosing to oppose us." A few moments passed in silence, Crocodile giving a slight smile before uttering, "How about this...you wise up and side with us...or I'll drain you dry."

Tails gave off a slight growl, his eyes abruptly widening as he felt a rather painful feeling overcoming him; his body was becoming weaker, and he could feel the inside of his mouth drying up. "Desert Encierro," Crocodile murmured, holding up his hook and aiming it towards Tails' head. "Last chance, before you become little more than a dry sketeton and a bloody pelt."

The fox gave off a slight whine, wincing as he felt his skin become a little more brittle, his vision fading and causing the approaching shadow behind Crocodile to become even hazier. "Let...him...GO!"

Suddenly, a powerful force smashed down onto Crocodile from behind, causing him to explode in a large cloud of sand. Two glittering lights, the Chaos Emeralds, were also flung outwards, being snatched up by Patamon before they fell to the ground. The fox winced slightly as the large, brown, furry figure bent down to him with a shocked expression. "Tails! Tails, are you alright?"

"Nngh..." Tails' vision faded into view just long enough for the furry creature's face to become visible, his eyes widening slightly. "C-...Captain...?"

Crocodile had, meanwhile, materialized a distance away, furrowing his brow and looking up, taking notice of the large, muscular reindeer standing over Tails and glaring at the sand-manipulating pirate with a deadly expression. "Ah yes, I remember you...one of Straw Hat's friends," Crocodile uttered, standing up with a small smile. "Chopper, if I'm not mistaken?"


	34. Temporary Resolution

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 34-Temporary Resolution

"Well...I suppose this is the last we'll be seeing of you."

The Buizel and their human leader now stood outside of their little village, Don Patch before them. He abruptly stepped forth, donning a brimmed hat, female wig, lipstick, and a coat, looking up at him slightly with teary eyes. "I can't believe we're leaving after such a short period of time..."

The human gave off a slight blink as Don Patch grabbed a hold of his hand, jerking the human down slightly so that they were at eye level and murmuring, "If get on that plane...you're going to regret it. Maybe not today...maybe not tomorrow...but soon, and for the rest of your life!"

"...uh..." the human could only gawk as Don Patch walked away, now headed towards a nearby plane, the Buizel all wagging their hands about and calling a farewell. The human himself bowed slightly, only to be interrupted when the plane abruptly exploded, seemingly catching Don Patch in it. "D-Don Patch!"

Despite this, the orange blob lunged out of the blaze, now with a five o clock shadow, a cigar in his mouth, two machines guns and an ammunition belt wrapped around his chest. "Alright, time to rock and roll!" he shouted, dashing off into the forest and firing off from his weapons rather madly and erratically.

The Buizel and their human leader continued to stare, the latter's eyes kept on the two "Chaos Emeralds", as Tsuru Tsurulina had called them, strapped to the ammo belt around Don Patch. "Good luck, Don Patch..."

**-Meanwhile-**

The already dried air had become heavy as Chopper and Crocodile stared off, Tails giving an occasional groan and light cough as he attempted to sit up. "Tails, are you alright...?" the reindeer mumbled lowly, his eyes darting to the fox for a moment.

"D-...dry..." he uttered rather lowly, trembling.

Chopper's eyes then went to Patamon nearby, the reindeer calling, "Get him something to drink, quick!"

The Digimon's eyes shot open and he quickly nodded, staggering back and squeaking, "Y-yes sir!"

He proceeded to dash off, Chopper turning back to Crocodile, who chuckled. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Save it," Chopper uttered, scowling slightly. "I'm a little surprised to see you again. I guess Alabasta wasn't enough of a lesson for you?"

This incited a steady chuckle from Crocodile, who lifted his head up slightly. "Kuhehehehe...such big words from someone who wasn't even responsible for my defeat." Chopper grunted and stepped back slightly, some wisps of sand leaking from Crocodile's body. "You think that just because Straw Hat was able to beat me, you can do it too? Don't make me laugh."

Chopper took another step forward, shouting, "It doesn't matter if Luffy is here or not, I'll be more than enough to take you! I'm much stronger than I was before!"

Another, more energetic laugh came from Crocodile, who extended both hands outwards slightly. "Chopper, Chopper, Chopper...so naive." He lowered his gaze slightly, murmuring, "You're getting in way over your head now."

In response to this, Crocodile began forming another blade of sand in his hand, Chopper crouching slightly in preparation and growling lowly. "I came here for some Chaos Emeralds, and instead I'm going to end up defeating one of the Straw Hats...it must be my lucky day."

"Tails, get out of range..." Chopper mumbled, glancing at the fox as he blinked in shock.

"B-...but...what about..."

"Desert Spada!" Crocodile abruptly plunged his blade of sand into the ground, sending the sandy shockwave flying towards the duo along the ground. Chopper quickly dove to the side, scooping up Tails in the process and avoiding as the attack smashed into another nearby building, sending it toppling down.

Chopper looked up, setting Tails to the side as Patamon came back, now with a canteen and holding it up. "H-here!"

Tails quickly snatched away the canteen and began guzzling the contents, Chopper standing up and clenching his fists slightly. "Alright...I'll deal with him."

Patamon blinked and looked up as Chopper lunged towards Crocodile, fist wound up. "Heavy Gong!"

Crocodile swiftly avoided the attack by tilting his head to one side, smirking slightly as Chopper wound up his other fist for another punch; however, it impacted the pirate's chest and resulted in a large cloud of sand being punched from his chest, Chopper's arm now stuck within it. His eyes widened as Crocodile murmured, "My my...haven't you learned anything by now?" Chopper's eyes began widening as fear began setting in, Crocodile forming another, slightly more solid blade of sand in his hands. "Sables: Pesado!"

With this comment, a rather dense blast of sand was fired from his hands, smashing into Chopper and sending him flying back, toppling to a halt. "C-Captain!" Tails squeaked, giving a light cough and wincing, Patamon glancing at him. "P-...Patamon...the Chaos Emeralds..."

Said creature blinked in worry as Chopper stood back up, quickly avoiding a swipe from Crocodile's hook and hopping away. "I've gotta get a way past that sand of his..."

Crocodile chuckled lowly once again, generating another blade of sand in his hand. "Come on, this is a little too easy...the little one put up more of a fight than you did."

Chopper growled in response, his eyes darting towards Tails and Patamon, the latter beginning to surrender the two gems he had asked for to Tails. The fox gripped a hold of them and gave a somewhat raspy sigh, murmuring, "I hope this works..."

"Ahem," Crocodile abruptly remarked, Chopper's gaze being torn back to him as the pirate grabbed Chopper's face, his eyes widening as his opponent gave a slight smirk. "You're going to pay dearly for letting your mind wander..."

The reindeer let out a slight grunt as Tails closed his eyes, the two Chaos Emeralds beginning to glow brightly. Said glow had soon extended to the rest of Tails' body, Patamon blinking and sidling back slightly as Tails stowed the two gems in his namesakes, narrowing his gaze and abruptly summoning his arm cannon, pointing it at Crocodile. "Straw Hat will hear of his precious doctor being dried up like a prune," Crocodile remarked with a smirk. "I'll send him your regards. Desert Enci-"

"Chaos Cannon!" Tails immediately fired off a blast of energy from his cannon, smashing into Crcodile and sending him toppling backwards rather harshly, Chopper dropping to the ground with a slight pant, shivering and looking up.

Unlike before, Crocodile had stood up slightly, now visibly charred and looking a tad shaken. He blinked, murmuring, "How did..."

"His attack...overrode his Devil Fruit abilities!" Chopper gasped, glancing back at Tails. "How did?"

The fox seemed just as surprised, looking down at his weapon as Crocodile narrowed his gaze slightly. "It must be those Emeralds...enabling him to get right past my defenses." The pirate swayed from side to side slightly, generating another blade of sand in his hand. "In that case, it's time I stopped fooling around and killed you."

Tails gave a slight gulp, dismissing his cannon and crouching slightly. "I'm not going to just...roll over so easily!"

"You'll wish you had," Crocodile remarked, abruptly dashing towards Tails. He lunged at the vulpine, hook outstretched, forcing him to quickly hop up over the swipe, flinging his foot upwards and sending the toe of his shoe crashing into Crocodile's chin, causing him to lean back slightly, head tilted and staggering slightly. "G-guh..."

"What was that you were saying...?" Tails asked, now with a little renewed vigor and smirking slightly. He landed back on his feet, forming his cannon and firing off another blast. "Chaos Cannon!"

A blast of energy smashed into Crocodile before he could react, sending him toppling backwards and causing Patamon's eyes to widen in amazement. "W-wow..."

"Incredible..." Chopper mumbled lowly, unable to stop from gawking at the scene as Crocodile attempted to sit up. He was, however, cut of when the ground underneath him began distorting.

"Flick!" Tails shouted, abruptly pointing towards Crocodile and causing an oversized hand to sprout out of the ground, flicking upwards and catapulting the pirate into the air. The fox just as quickly shot off after him, now moving noticeably faster and managing to catch up to Crocodile with little difficulty.

"Ggh...you!" he grunted lowly, attempting to swing his hook at Tails, who expertly avoided each strike. However, he seemed to be slowing down quite a bit, giving an occasional pant and causing Crocodile to narrow his gaze. "After I dried you up earlier, you lost a bit of stamina...that's too bad, you were actually beginning to become a challenge."

Tails gave a grunt, only for a somewhat sloppy move to result in Crocodile grabbing a hold of his neck once again, the fox yelping dryly. "This time I'll make sure to dry you up completely."

"Nngh...not...today..." Tails grunted, noticing gravity beginning to pull them back down towards the ground. With a quick jerking motion, he managed to redirect their position so that he was above Crocodile, generating his cannon once more and pointing it at the pirate's chest. Both stared with gritted teeth as Tails shouted, "Chaos Cannon!"

"Desert Encierr-" Crocodile was, however, unable to follow up with the rest of the attack as an explosion engulfed the duo from the point blank attack, causing both Chopper and Patamon to gasp as the smoke cloud swallowed them both. A few seconds later, and both began falling back downwards, Crocodile no longer holding onto Tails. Both flopped to the ground rather abruptly, motionless.

"Tails!" Chopper shouted, rushing to the fox's side and lifting him up. Tails gave off a raspy groan and wince as Patamon looked over at Crocodile, who looked more than a little battered and charred. The pirate glanced up slightly, Chopper backing away from him slightly and grunting, "You've lost Crocodile. Now get out of here!"

"T-tch...so...I've lost here...it changes nothing," the pirate murmured, beginning to dissolve into sand. "This little part of our scheme was entirely optional regardless...our grand plan remains unchanged."

"Our..." Chopper echoed, growling lowly. "The Army of Darkness..."

Crocodile only gave off another chuckle as he began fading out slightly, the last of his body dissolving away. A few moments passed as the rest of the now visibly frightened pirates exchanged a glance, quickly beginning to rush into their ship and shove off in a panic, Chopper looking back down at Tails, who gave another pant. "That was too close..."

"I-is Tails going to be alright?" Patamon murmured, looking over at the fox who gave off a raspy groan, attempting to mouth something. "Wh-what?"

"...w-...water..."

Chopper turned towards Patamon with an urgent expression. "He's suffering from major dehydration, get him some water, stat!"

"Y-yes sir!" the little Digimon squeaked, quickly scampering off and prompting the reindeer to turn back to the panting fox in his arms.

"As if things weren't bad enough..." he uttered lowly, hanging his head with a sigh.

**-Later-**

Victor and Yoshiro continued along their path, keeping their gaze pointed directly ahead of the forest, ocasionally looking back down at the map to ensure that they were headed down the correct path. A stray glance of Victor's pointed him to the sky, allowing him to notice the darkening of the formerly blue sky. "It must be approaching nighttime," Yoshiro responded, glancing at Victor slightly.

"Maybe," the dragon responded, also noticing the ominous, yellowing clouds coming into view. "We're also getting close to Twilight Plains."

Yoshiro glanced at Victor with a slight blink, the dragon giving off a scowl of distaste. "Which means if I wanna get back to Lunar Hill I'm probably going to have to speak to the Twilight Society about it..."

The image of Raibaru shot through Victor's mind once again, Yoshiro tilting his head to one side in curiosity. "Alright. That shouldn't be too difficult to do, mm?"

"Depends on whether that wolf bastard decides to turn psycho again," Victor growled in response, earning a curious blink from Yoshiro. "...nothing, let's just keep moving."

"...if you say so," the Yoshi murmured, following Victor through the now loosening forest and enabling them to see the yellowed plains up ahead. "Is that it? The Twilight Plains?"

Victor nodded in response, the duo finally stepping out of the forest and looking about. "Alright...now we've just gotta find a road, or something that'll lead us to a nearby town..."

Yoshiro stepped forward slightly, sniffing the air and closing his eyes. "...it's faint, but...I believe I can feel something..." Victor furrowed his brow slightly, glancing at Yoshiro, who took a momentary step forward, lowering his head slightly. "...it's...some sort of magical presence..."

"Magical?" Victor echoed, frowning.

"Yes," Yoshiro responded with a nod, turning towards the dragon. "I believe it's coming from over here..."

The duo quickly approached a nearby rock, Yoshiro clambering on top and narrowing his gaze slightly, looking around Victor peeked over as well. He could barely make out a slight sparkle nearby, narrowing his gaze and murmuring, "That over there...?"

Another "yes" from Yoshiro, who quickly pointed an arrow at it and pulled his bowstring taut. Victor narrowed his gaze as well; something felt...unusual about the glimmer, almost familiar. It took the dragon a few moments to abruptly blink, then grab a hold of Yoshiro's leg. "Wait!"

"GAH!" the dinosaur shouted, quickly jerking back and firing his arrow into the air, whirling back to Victor with a growl. "What was that for?" Victor didn't respond, instead hopping over the rock and hopping over to the glimmer, Yoshiro glancing at him slightly. The Yoshi leaped after him, calling, "Victor, wait! It could be a trap!"

The dragon ignored this, finally approaching the glimmer; it looked to be a circular rune with a glowing marking on the top, and six spider-like legs sticking out of the sides. Victor expertly grabbed a hold of it, Yoshiro approaching as Victor held up the now squirming object. "...that's a rune."

"Gee thanks, even I knew that," Victor responded in a sarcastic fashion, rolling his eyes as he held it over to the dinosaur. "What does it DO exactly?"

Yoshiro furrowed his brow, preparing to take it from Victor; however, it just as quickly sprung to life with a loud flash, causing Yoshiro to step back and forcing Victor to drop it in alarm. "Gah!"

The rune continued to give off a bright glow, Victor grabbing his blade and preparing to stab it, only for Yoshiro to lift his hand to stop him. "Wait! It's a message-recording rune!"

Victor blinked slightly, lowering his blade as a slight hum began emanating from the stone. "...testing...is this thing on?"

The voice caused Victor's eyes to shoot open. "I knew it!" Yoshiro looked up at the dragon with a curious expression, Victor narrowing his gaze and looking up. "I know that voice...Kokira..."

The image of the aforementioned red-furred vixen in a blue robe came back to Victor, the female voice speaking up once again. "If you're getting this message, Victor, then one of my runes has found you, and we're on our way. I could start going into details about how I got it to work and stuff, but we don't have time for that right now...just stay where you are, do NOT go anywhere, and PLEASE try and stay hidden. This is extremely important, and I need you to listen carefully..."


	35. Framed

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 35-Framed

Nighttime had fallen by the time Don Patch stepped out of the forest, looking up at the now starry sky. It felt a little unusual not to see the rapid changes in scenery usually accustomed to Lunar Hill once the moon was out. He looked down slightly, now finding himself in what looked to be a plain-like area; a first assumption would have led one to believe that he was in Twilight Plains, however, the lesser amount of plant life told otherwise. "Hmmmmm..."

The orange blob continued to stroll along the path, eyes closed with a somewhat cheery hum as he went along, occasionally tilting his head from one side to the other before looking up, soon noticing some lights on the horizon. "C-can it be...?"

With renewed vigor, Don Patch began charging towards the lights, a small town soon coming into view. "It is! I've reached the big city!"

After a few moments of running, Don Patch arrived at the gates, looking around at the less than impressive buildings scattered here and there, constantly whirling around. "...huh. The big city isn't as big as I was expecting!"

"Hey!"

Don Patch abruptly turned around, taking note of two soldiers approaching him. They came to a stop, Don Patch chuckling and setting his hands on his hips. "Don't worry fellow men, I'm just passing through. I will require a room."

Both soldiers glanced at each other, one of them murmuring, "He's one of 'em, right...?"

The other soldier proceeded to pull out a scrap of paper from his uniform; unbeknownst to Don Patch, a wanted poster featuring him, Victor, and Tails, detailing their theft of the Twilight Essence. "Yeah...that's him!"

Don Patch gave off a rather confident chuckle, waving a hand in front of him. "Oh, so you've heard of me! I suppose my reputation precedes me! I don't normall do this often, but..." He proceeded to spin about, now pulling out a picture of himself and a pen. "I suppose I can do a few autogra-"

His comment was cut off when one of the soldiers sliced the picture in half with a spear, Don Patch's face frozen as he watched the severed half slide to the ground. "WHYYYYYYY! I didn't get the others developed just yeeeeeeeet!"

"Stay right there, dirtbag!" one of the soldiers called, pointing their weapons at Don Patch. "You're coming with us and answering some questions!"

Don Patch, however, leaned back, now wearing a ski mask. "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

With this comment, the soldiers rushed at Don Patch, who expertly leaped over them and began charging down the street, forcing the guards to look up and pull out a walkie-talkie. "We need backup, a high ranking criminal wanted for stealing the Twilight Essence is on the loose in town!"

At this, a somewhat glazed and confident-sounding voice answered. "Is that right...? Don't worry guys, I've got this in that case."

During this time, Don Patch had began dashing down the streets, barreling through various crowds and smirking widely. "They'll never catch me...my record will remain unscathed!"

Before Don Patch could get any further, however, a figure abruptly reappeared from nowhere in front of him, causing the orange blob to topple to a halt and forcing the crowd to very quickly part. Don Patch looked up at the black-robed figure, their crimson red, spiky-poinytailed hair lending him an air of dangerousness. The human figure smirked rather widely, murmuring, "Don Patch...one of the Lunar Guild's newest recruits. Unfortunately this little escapade is going to leave a serious mark on your record...high treason's a serious crime."

The orange blob hopped back to his feet, lifting up a fist and growling, "So what? And who the heck are you anyway?"

The human smirked, slowly pulling out a sword from its place on his waist, spinning it about before pointing the blade at Don Patch's nose. "Renji Abarai, Lunar Guild captain. You're coming with me, Patch."

**-Meanwhile-**

"Mmph...mmph...aahh..."

Tails lowered his head and gave another pant, setting the somewhat small, empty gourd to the side and murmuring, "Refill please."

Patamon gawked for a moment before accepting the gourd, toddling over to what looked to be a faucet and murmuring, "U-um...alright..."

Chopper, who had been sitting on the other side of the room watching the entire time, coughed and murmured, "Tails, I don't think Crocodile drained THAT much liquid out of you...I think you've had enough."

"What makes you say that?" Tails' question was answered when Chopper approached, beginning to jab a hoof rayther plainly into Tails' now noticeably, almost comically more swollen middle, an obvious sign of him going overboard on the water. Tails blushed slightly as chopper's hoof pushed into the flesh, and tried to push the appendage away. "...a-alright, I get your point..."

Patamon soon returned with the refilled gourd; ignoring Chopper's earlier comment, Tails tipped it back to his muzzle and began guzzling the contents once again. The reindeer sweatdropped slightly and cleared his throat, mumbling, "Moving on..."

"S-so, you're Tails' superior?" Patamon asked, turning to Chopper, who gave a nod in response. The Digimon's eyes sparkled in response, squeaking, "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, it would be..." Chopper mumbled, looking down with a serious expression. The comment caused Tails to lower his drink and wipe his mouth off, coughing as Chopper looked up. "Tails, we have a...very serious issue at hand...have you been to Twilight Plains at all since the Solar Mountain siege?"

Tails gave off a surprised blink. "But...aren't we technically in Twilight Plains now?" Chopper's unimpressed stare made Tails rethink his answer, mumbling, "Er...no, I haven't. I've been on this island the entire time."

Chopper gave off a sigh, folding his hands and turning away. "That's good...at least now we're completely certain..."

"Certain of what?" Tails asked lowly, leaning forward slightly. "What happened?"

The reindeer gave Tails a serious expression, Patamon's former smile quickly fading. "Tails...you, Victor, and Don Patch've been charged with high treason by the Celestial Alliance..."

**-Meanwhile-**

"BULLSHIT!"

"Victor, you're talking to a preset recording," Yoshiro mumbled, glancing at the now seething dragon as he grabbed at the rune with an enraged expression.

"I don't know what the hell happened while we were gone..." Victor growled lowly, his fist clenching tighter and his body trembling in rage. "...but there is no way in HELL that I have commited treason of any sort!"

Yoshiro gave off a slight sigh, snatching the rune away from Victor. "Let's let it explain before you go breaking it and we don't get an answer."

The dragon gave off a slight growl before glancing back at the rune, awaiting Kokira's explanation. "A day or two after you and your team disappeared during the Solar Mountain siege, the Twilight Essence was stolen. Security cameras and eye witnesses all claim that it was you three. All evidence points towards you guys being the culprit."

**-Meanwhile-**

"B-...but that's impossible!" Tails stammered, hopping from his seat; his earlier drinking binge had, however, caused a rapid shift in his center of gravity that caused him to flop onto his front. "Oof!"

"T-Tails has been here with me the entire time," Patamon stammered, trembling in fear. "I-I couldn't vouch for his buddies, but he's innocent!"

"They're all innocent," Chopper responded, folding his hooves behind his back and closing his eyes. "But the Celestial Alliance won't listen to reason. They're wanted criminals now with a bounty on their head. Silver and Gaara want to see them in chains with the location of the Twilight Essence."

Tails looked up with a slight groan and tremble, stammering, "B-but...we don't know where it is..."

"The sad part is they'll simply think of that as withholding information," Chopper murmured, glancing back at Tails and helping him back into a standing position.

"B-...but what do we do then?" Patamon stammered in a panic, squirming about nervously. "Th-they'll kill them!"

**-Meanwhile-**

"The only thing we can do is try to find who truly is responsible," Kokira's recorded voice continued, Victor and Yoshiro exchanging a glance. "We have a strong feeling that the Army of Darkness is behind this, but we're going to need hard, solid proof."

Victor furrowed his brow in thought. "Well that's all well and good...but how on earth are we supposed to accomplish that?"

Yoshiro shushed Victor and glanced back at the rune, Kokira continuing, "Fortunately, Commander Otohime is backing us on this mission and is keeping Guildmaster Silver off your trail. He's got your captain and one of his partners on the job as well to find you guys so that we can group together and find proof that you're innocent."

"He must've been able to sway some of the Solar Faction too in that case," Victor mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Like I said, stay where you are. This rune is tracking your location, so me and my team will be there as fast as we can. From there we'll see about regrouping with the rest of your team and beginning our search. See you then."

With this comment, the rune stopped glowing, Victor looking down at it in thought. "Well, this certainly does seem like quite a predicament," Yoshiro mumbled, glancing at Victor slightly.

"I won't hold it against you if you leave now," Victor uttered, narrowing his gaze slightly. "Dragging you into something that doesn't concern you at all..."

Yoshiro stared at Victor for a moment, stepping towards him and setting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not headed back. It's obvious your Army has done you injustice, and I will not stand for that." Victor turned to Yoshiro with a mild expression of surprise, the brave giving a slight smile amongst his normally glazed expression. "I'll stay by your side and help prove your innocence. Partially because that's what friends do."

The word seemed to have a slight impact on Victor for a moment, the dragon pausing and adopting a blank expression. Yoshiro's smile faded and he gave a slight blink, Victor slowly nodding again. "Yeah...thanks."

**-Meanwhile-**

Don Patch hopped back to his feet, twisting about slightly and putting a finger to his cheek. "Weeeeeelllll, I don't blame you for wanting me. I'm just so valuable! You should've seen how badly the producers wanted my contract!"

Renji retained a serious expression, gripping his weapon as some soldiers appeared behind him. "Captain Abarai!"

The human extended his blade to the side to stop them from approaching any further. "Stop. I'll deal with him myself." With this comment, Renji began crouching slightly, Don Patch adopting a smirk and holding up his fists.

"Oh, so it's a fight you want? Well I'll humor you for a little while with my dazzling style!"

Renji, on the other hand, smirked in response, uttering, "I wouldn't be so arrogant, you little blob..." With this comment, the human lunged towards Don Patch, blade held behind him, calling, "Taste steel!"

"But I'm allergic," Don Patch mumbled with a blank expression, abruptly being smashed backwards by a slice, sending him toppling to a halt.

Renji smirked again, sprinting towards Don Patch once more and calling, "You'd best start fighting back soon before I cut you to ribbons!"

Don Patch abruptly looked up, expertly leaping into the air as Renji swiped downwards, the human looking up as Don Patch righted himself. "You may have a fancy blade, but it's nothing compared to my Don Patch Sword!"

He pulled out the usual leek weapon, Renji staring up at it with a blank expression before mumbling, "...what...?"

Don Patch gave a loud roar, charging down towards Renji with his "weapon" held over his head. "Take this!"

Renji quickly lifted up one of his arms, blocking the attack before knocking Don Patch away with a swing of his arm. The orange blob flew back, waggling his hands in front of him tauntingly as Renji gave a frown. "Don't start pissing me off now..."

The human abruptly lunged after Don Patch, lifting his blade into the air and smashing it down onto Don Patch, sending him flying into the ground with a resounding crash. Everyone spectating gave a wince as Renji dropped down, murmuring, "Hmph, you're not so tough after all...I find it hard to believe someone like you could've taken the Twilight Essence."

Don Patch slowly stood back up, giving a growl and swaying slightly. "The hell're you talking about? I don't have any Twilight Essence."

Renji furrowed his brow, gripping his balde in both hands and uttering, "Sure you don't. You won't be saying that once you're on the execution stand."

With this comment, Renji charged forth once again, Don Patch holding up his fists in preparation. They were, however, cut off when a figure abruptly appeared in front of Don Patch, blocking Renji's strike with a dagger in hand. Both blinked in shock, Don Patch mumbling, "What-"

The figure was rather lithe with a vaguely feminine body type, wearring an all-black jumpsuit and ski mask that only enabled their sharp eyes to be seen. Renji blinked as the figure used their free hand to smash something on the ground; a rather large cloud of smoke erupted from the epicenter, enveloping the trio and causing Renji to begin coughing hoarsely. "A-A smoke bomb?"

Within moments, the smoke had disappeared, causing Renji to look up with a slight grunt; Don Patch and the figure were gone. "Th-they escaped!" one of the soldiers gasped.

Renji turned to the others with a serious expression, pointing forward. "Split up! Scan this entire town!" A unanimous "yes sir" was the response, all of the soldiers splitting up. Renji narrowed his gaze, abruptly vanishing with a backwards fading effect and a light "woosh" sound.


	36. Plans For A Meeting

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 36-Plans For A Meeting

After the smoke bomb was let loose, Don Patch's vision became a blur before finally solidifying and enabling him to look around. He was now perched on top of a building, on his knees and coughing hoarsely. "Agh...ack...whew..."

Suddenly, a hand grasped a hold of Don Patch's shoulder, whirling him around; the orange blob now found himself facing the black-clad figure from before. "Wh-wha? Who are you? What do you want? Is this about my late payment?"

The figure's visible eyes were all that was needed to be seen to notice their confused expression. Don Patch scooted back slightly, only to bump into something behind him. He very slowly looked up, quickly noticing Renji looking down on him. "GAH!"

Don Patch abruptly leaped back, holding up his fists and growling, "What, you're back for Round 2? C'mon, put 'em up!"

Renji responded with an irate sigh, rubbing the back of his head and mumbling, "Would you shut up...?" He looked up at the masked figure, mumbling, "The others aren't around now. We should get back to your place."

"Agreed," the female figure responded; before Don Patch could offer a complaint, his arm was grabbed by Renji and the duo began leaping off once again.

**-Meanwhile-**

The only thing that enabled Victor to tell that it was night was his steadily increasing drowsiness. He looked up somewhat lazily at the crackling fire, Yoshiro sitting in front of it and occasionally poking at some of the wood with another stick. Victor gave off a tired yawn, Yoshiro casting him a glance and murmuring, "You should get some sleep. Don't worry, I'm capable of keeping watch and setting up defensive measures to ensure we aren't attacked."

Victor furrowed his brow; if it weren't for Yoshiro's stern expression and serious tone, he would've disregarded the comment as mere arrogance. "Fine, fine..." he uttered bluntly, twisting onto his side and leaning his head on the rock he had been resting against. "We wouldn't need to if it weren't for this damned framing..."

Yoshiro didn't respond, keeping his gaze on the fire and only occasionally looking back at Victor. A few minutes passed, and finally Victor was giving off some rather sound snores. Yoshiro looked up completely, finally reaching into his vest and beginning to pull out a few stones; they looked rather similar to the rune Kokira had sent after them, with the difference that they seemed more crude and less refined. "...confident-much. I know the symptoms of a vision when I see one..."

The memory of Victor's nightmare back in the village came back to Yoshiro, the dinosaur narrowing his gaze as he began arranging some of the stones around him. "And I'm going to translate it."

**-Meanwhile-**

Finally, Don Patch and the other two had dropped to a halt near the outskirts of the city, where it looked so much more rural and empty. Renji and the masked figure looked around, the former murmuring, "Alright, I think we're safe..."

The masked figure proceeded to enter a nearby small building-like shack, Renji dragging Don Patch inside. The duo looked around upon entering; it was a single room with two mattresses set up along the walls, a miniature kitchen, a bookshelf, and a desk with several papers scattered all along it. Renji approached said desk, soon noticing that almost all of the pages involved the recent rash of reports of the Twilight Essence's theft. "So where are we?" Don Patch asked blankly, looking around and pointing at the masked figure. "What's going on here? I want answers!"

This comment resulted in the masked figure smashing a fist onto Don Patch's head, growling, "Geez...you're so annoying...I actually feel sorry for Victor having to put up with you now."

"Victor..." Don Patch grunted, looking up at the masked figue with a grunt. "You know him?"

Renji sighed with a shake of his head, Don Patch whirling around to him and pointing at the human dramatically. "And YOU! I thouht you were lookin' for a fight?"

"That was a cover, genius," Renji murmured, looking up and folding his arms. "You, Victor, and Tails have been accused of stealing the Twilight Essence, so now the entire Celestial Alliance is after you."

Don Patch simply stared up at the ceiling blankly, digging in his nose with one of his pinkies. "Twilight Essence...? I don't got one of those things..."

"We know," the female figure responded, proceeding to yank their mask off; underneath was a face almost exactly like Victor's, with pale blue skin and a large, drooping white mohawk. Theirs, however, was a bit wider and hung down the back of their head, looking just a little more like hair. "We're here to prove you innocent."

Don Patch gawked at the dragonness for a moment, Renji continuing, "Commander Otohime made a few guesses of where you guys were in Mysterra...one of the assumptions was here in Runisk, Victor's own home town." Don Patch's gawked expression was turned towards Renji, who motioned towards the female dragon. "So we managed to get Victor's twin sister Teresa to help us out with this little predicament."

The orange blob turned back towards the dragonness, Teresa, who folded her arms with a nod. "That's correct. Once we've found the three of you we're going to rendezvous and begin making plans to find some evidence proving you guys innocent."

"I actually got a response earlier today," Renji remarked, stepping forth slightly. "Chopper's found Tails on an island off the coast of Twilight Plains, and Kokira's managed to pinpoint Victor's location right on the very border of Twilight Plains itself. Unfortunately for us they're closer together than we are."

Don Patch continud to stare blankly at the duo, Teresa giving off a cocky smirk - not unlike Victor's - and waggled a finger about. "Fortunately for us...we've got a zeppelin nearby. So if anything we'll be the one to reach the meeting point first!"

"I wouldn't put it like that," Renji murmured, folding his arms and looking up. "There's a port near Chopper's location with a zeppelin station. I can't really speak for Victor, but..."

A shake of the head, followed by Teresa furrowing her brow and leaning with a hand on Don Patch's head, the orange blob still almost completely oblivious to the conversation going on. "Whatever...do we at least know where we're going to be meeting them at?"

"A village in Twilight Plains," Renji explained, folding his arms and looking down. "Sure we'll be right in the Twilight Society's grasp, but...it'd be best to explore around there anyway, it seems most likely there'd be clues over there."

Teresa nodded in response, looking down at Don Patch. "...you're not paying attention to any of this, are you?"

The orange blob, on the other hand, adopted a comically serious expression and folded his arms, rubbing his nonexistant chin over. "I don't pay attention to anything," he uttered in a rather "cool" tone.

"Whatever," Renji murmured, rubbing his head about. "We're leaving tomorrow. But we've gotta keep a really low profile..."

**-The following day-**

Victor winced slightly as his body finally began waking up, giving a groan and slowly opening his eyes. "Ggh..."

He looked up ever so slightly, taking notice of Yoshiro nearby, having restarted the fire and currently cooking something. The Yoshi didn't even look up before mumbling, "Good morning."

"Mornin'..." Victor mumbled, slowly sitting up and crawling over to the fire. He looked over what Yoshiro was cooking, taking a deep breath and sighing. "Ya think Kokira and her buddies are gonna show today...?"

"Let's hope so," Yoshiro responded plainly, keeping his gaze on the food he was preparing. All the while, however, his mind was abuzz. His divination attempt last night had ended in failure...with no signs of any type of vision coming to him at all. Yoshiro's only guesses were that it was a type of magic he had never dealt with before, or that there was a possibility he truly was wrong.

The Yoshi's train of thought was interrupted by a slight "whoosh" sound, kicking up a gust all around them and causing him and Victor to look up. A few moments later, and the source of the noise and gust perched itself on a nearby rock, arms folded and a cocky smirk on its face. "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" the spiky blue creature responded, smirking widely.

"Wish I could say the same for you," Victor responded sourly, looking up with a frown. "Where's Kokira?"

"Calm down, calm down..." The familiar female voice gave way to the aforementioned vixen approaching from behind the stone her partner was perched upon, followed by the small white cat and pink-haired human girl following behind. Victor looked them over as Kokira approached, the two staring at each other intently. "...well, it's good that you're in one piece."

Victor gave off a slight nod, looking at the others gathered around; Sonic slid down from his stone next to Gatomon, Sakura folding her arms with a slight frown. "Now that we're here, we should start discussing our course of action," the kunoichi murmured, narrowing her gaze slightly. "Your captain has managed to find Tails on an island near here, and Don Patch landed near your hometown."

"Explain to me why I care aga-" Victor seemed to halt himself once Sakura's sentence clicked in his head. "...my hometown...? As in, Runisk...?"

"Yes," Kokira responded with a nod. "One of Chopper's accomplices managed to get your sister to help with our little situation here. We're planning to rendezvous with them at a nearby town and start searching for clues."

Victor fell silent for a moment, rubbing his face over and mumbling, "Ugh...as if it weren't bad enough without Teresa involved..." He leaned to the side, planting his hand on a nearby wall and shaking his head. "Fine, fine, do we have any other plans outside of that?"

"Well, not really," Kokira responded, her eyes slowly going to Victor's hand, which, contrary to what he was attempting to do, was suspended in midair. "...we were...going to...just...search...for..."

The dragon furrowed his brow, mumbling, "Go on, we're going to search for...?"

Yoshiro gave off an irate sigh and rubbed his eyes over. "Victor, would you mind explaining to us how you're leaning on nothing?"

"I'm not leaning on nothing, I'm leaning on a..." Victor's gaze went to where his hand was supposedly pressed against a wall, falling silent and pursing his lips. "...an...invisible wall. Huh."

Kokira and Sakura proceeded to approach the wall, the human female tapping on it experimentally and furrowing her brow. "What the hell...?"

"When did this get here?" Kokira murmured curiously, Gatomon plowing a fist into it with no effect, causing her to yelp and stagger back.

"...you mean those aren't supposed to be there?" Sonic mumbled curiously, blinking as everyone cast him an unimpressed stare. "I was just asking!"

Yoshiro approached one as well, taking one of his arrows and tapping the pointed end against it, resulting in a hollow "thunk" sound. Victor gave off a roar and plowed one of his feet into the wall, resulting in some rippling being seen along the air from the point of impact, followed by Victor falling over with a growl. "The hell?"

Kokira and her team had also split up, feeling over the wall and soon doing a full revolution over the area. "It seems like we're locked in...!" Gatomon gasped, glancing at the others.

"Well that's just peachy," Sonic mumbled with a frown, folding his arms and looking around. "Kokira, can't you go dispel these?"

"Working on it," she responded, pulling a rune from one of her many pockets and planting it on one of the invisible walls. A bright light came from the rune and the invisible walls rippled again, however, nothing more happened, causing Kokira's eyes to widen. "...it's not working."

"What do you mean it's not working?" Victor remarked in irritation, clenching his fists with a growl. "Are you saying your magic isn't good enough to get rid of this?"

Kokira closed her eyes with a slight sigh, turning to face Victor. "It's not that my magic isn't good enough...it only works against other sources of magic. And this...isn't magic."

The others blinked in surprise, Sonic knocking ons fingers against it with a curious expression. "Then if it's not magic, what is it?"

"Allow me to demonstrate."

The sudden voice caused everyone to quickly look around in shock, Victor giving off an irate growl. "Tch...what now...?"

"Who's there?" Sakura called, pulling a dagger from her pack and taking a slight step back. "Show yourself!"

"Very well." The deep voice was followed by a flash of light above the group, finally fading and looking up at the figure that had revealed themselves: a rather tall alien-like creature with bony, gray skin and a very thick purple tail. His fingers and toes each ended with a round ball in stark contrast to his wiry upper body and vaguely cat-like head, which had a curved tube extending from the back to his upper back. All in all, it had the appearances of some sort of mutant, its piercing eyes gazing all over the group. "My name is Mewtwo. You all are coming with me."

**-Meanwhile-**

"Thank you once again for your help. You have been a great help to us."

Tails and Chopper both gave a bow to Angemon and the other Digimon standing before them, looking back up. "No, no, please, it's fine," Tails responded, his mind momentarily trailing to the two Emeralds stowed in his namesakes. "We were glad to help."

Angemon nodded in response, motioning a hand towards the exit of the village. "Good luck on your quest. We hope for the sound resolution of your dilemma."

"Thanks," Chopper responded with a nod, glancing at Tails slightly. "C'mon, we've gotta get going."

The fox nodded and prepared to turn around, only for a hysterical squeak to be heard from the crowd. "W-wait!"

Tails and Chopper turned back around, soon noticing Patamon squirming his way through the crowd and flopping to a halt in front of them, panting. Both blinked and turned to him, Tails murmuring, "Patamon? What're you doing?"

The Digimon gave a slight pant before crawling back to his feet, looking up at them with a somewhat alarmed expression. "T-...take me with you, please!"

Everyone gave a surprised murmur and looked around, Tails blinking and stepping forth slightly. "Wha...? You wanna come with us?"

Patamon nodded quickly, staggering to his feet with a slight pant. "I...I just..." He looked down with a slight shiver and wince. "After that whole scene...with the pirates...I...I want to better myself..."

He looked back up at the duo, now with an even more nervous expression. "I think that if I were to travel with you guys...then...I'd learn to be strong enough to defend myself...and maybe others..."

A few moments passed in silence, Tails and Chopper exchanging a glance at each other, then back at Patamon. "...you...do know what dangers are ahead, right?" Chopper mumbled lowly, bending down to the little hamster-like creature. "Tails is a wanted fugitive right now..."

"I don't care," Patamon responded with a shake of his head. "If anything...now I'll be able to repay him for helping save my village."

Chopper furrowed his brow in thought and rubbed his chin over, looking down and closing his eyes. "Mmmmm...well..."

"We'd be happy to have you," Tails responded with a smile, stepping forth and offering a hand to Patamon, who looked up eagerly.

"R-really? You mean it?" Tails glanced at Chopper, who gave a slight shrug and sigh. "Yes! Thank you so much!"

The small Digimon lunged at Tails with a tight hug, the fox leaning back with a slight chuckle as Chopper turned back to Angemon, who gave a slight nod. "We look forward to his safe return."

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him," Chopper responded with a nod, beginning to lead Tails and Patamon away. A quick wave to the other Digimon, and the trio was soon out of sight of the village. Patamon cast it a slight glance as the trio walked along, giving a slight sigh as Chopper cleared his throat. "First things first, we need to rendezvous with Victor and Don Patch. We're going to be going from the port on the side of this island to the zeppelin station on the mainland."

Patamon glanced back at Chopper as Tails looked down with a contemplative expression. "From there...we just have to look for anything that could prove us innocent, right?"

"While staying out of the Celestial Alliance's sight," Chopper added, closing his eyes as Tails and Patamon exchanged a glance. "And the Army of Darkness too...if they really were behind this, then they might want to keep us from exposing the truth..."

"I see..." Tails murmured with a nod, the trio continuing to walk along the path, completely unaware of a shadowed figure peeking at them from the bushes.


	37. The Army's Intervention

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 37-The Army's Intervention

"Is the coast clear?"

Renji slowly poked his head out from the hut identified as Teresa and Victor's house, glancing down both sides of the street. "...yeah. We're good."

At this time, Teresa slowly stepped out of the house, dressed in a black cloak not dissimilar to the one Renji wore, the both of them wearing hoods over their faces. "Don Patch, remember. You can't speak at ALL, got it?"

"I can't have that!" a muffled voice shouted from the pocket of Teresa's coat, prompting her to growl and try to cover it up. "You can't stifle greatness!"

Renji gave off a scowl and turned towards Teresa, uttering, "If we don't 'stifle greatness', then said greatness will be dead, got it? The Celestial Alliance will find and kill you."

A few moments passed in silence, Renji's words having seemingly made an effect on Don Patch. "...I'll be good," he uttered rather quietly.

"Good boy," Renji murmured, turning around and beckoning for Teresa to follow. "Come on, we'll have to be quick."

A nod from the dragonness, and the duo began rushing silently through the streets, trying to evade the attention of any passerbys. A few minutes passed and Renji looked up, murmuring, "There..."

Teresa looked up as well, taking notice of the tall, metal tower-like structure where several zeppelins were set up along the edges of large walkways, people going to and fro the structure. "The zeppelin station," she murmured, glancing at Renji as they began approaching the building.

"We'll get on a zeppelin to the town in Twilight Plains. I've already got our credentials sorted out, so we'll have no problem actually getting through," Renji murmured lowly. "The only issue would be getting through a security check...if they find Don Patch, we'll be done for."

"I don't think we'll need to worry about that too much," Teresa murmured lowly, looking up ever so slightly. "We'll be fine, so long as he keeps quie-"

"I'm hungry!" The orange blob's timely shouting prompted Teresa to cover him back up and earn some curious glances from those around them. "Feed me! Feed me!"

Teresa gave off an irate growl, bending down to his location and hissing, "What did we just tell you about being quiet?"

"But I'm huuuuuuuuuuuuungry!" the blob whined back, thrashing about and causing Teresa to growl steadily louder.

Renji gave off a sigh, rubbing his face and glancing back at Teresa. "Our zeppelin doesn't arrive for a little while longer...go ahead and fetch him something so he'll shut up and doesn't compromise our entire operation."

Teresa glanced back at the shinigami, pausing for a moment before sighing irritably. "Fine..." She began walking off, uttering to her pocket, "If we get caught I'm denying any association with you."

Renji gave off a slight sigh and glanced back at the schedule, staring at the time given for their zeppelin to arrive. Thirty minutes passed. The shinigami gave a slight frown once he noticed five minutes were all that was left of the wait time. "...where the hell are they...?"

He promptly turned around and began wandering through the building, looking around and calling, "Teresa? Teresa! Where are you?"

His attention was diverted when he noticed a slightly opened door, a sign on the front of it reading "Do Not Open". Renji furrowed his brow; something about the scene caused him to gravitate towards it. He slowly poked his head out, stepping forth a little more and looking ahead at the expanse of plains before him. The door simply seemed to lead to an open portion outside of the town. It wasn't until Renji looked down that he noticed the few small droplets of blood on the ground. His eyes widened; they seemed fresh. "What the-"

Before Renji could finish his comment, an extremely heavy force was slammed onto his head, smashing the shinigami face-first into the ground, knocking him unconscious in an instant and generating a small nosebleed. His body gave off a tremble as the door was closed behind him, a rather deep, guttural and energetic laugh being heard above him. A rather large, round figure toting what seemed to be a massive hammer stood over him, a smirk being carved into the beak on its face. "Grahaha! Gotcha!"

The figure snapped its gloves fingers, calling, "Round 'em up!" With this comment, several small, round, orange creatures with rather docile faces arrived from behind the large figure, scooping up Renji and beginning to drag him away from the building, soon arriving at a cage hidden in the underbrush that an unconscious Teresa and Don Patch were already inside of. The shinigami was tossed inside, the large figure stepping forth again and laughing once more.

"Grahahaha! That was almost too easy!" A smirk once again found its way onto the figure's beak, and he mumbled lowly, "The Army's gonna love to get their mitts on you..."

**-Meanwhile-**

Tails, Chopper, and Patamon continued to walk through the forest path, the trees slowly opening up a bit more and the smell of salt becoming more and more evident in the area. Tails tilted his head back and took a few sniffs, uttering, "We're close..."

"Good," Chopper responded with a nod. "Once we get on the boat, we'll get back to the mainland, and there should be a zeppelin station we can use. Renji should be departing from Runisk at any moment now, so we'll be able to rendezvous without any diffi-"

Chopper didn't finish his sentence, instead abruptly changing to Heavy Point and draggging Tails and Patamon to the ground, right as several daggers flew overhead, almost spearing them. "Wh-what was that?" Patamon squealed in a panic, paws over his head as he looked up, trembling.

Tails glanced at Chopper slowly, the reindeer growling lowly and standing back up, calling, "We know you're there! Now quit hiding!"

A faint chuckle came from all around, Tails and Patamon slowly following Chopper to their feet. "Well well...I must admit, that was a little impressive. But will you be so lucky again?"

Suddenly, several figures appeared before the trio out of nowhere; all but one of them were clad completely in black. The other was a teen with somewhat long, gray hair tied in a ponytail with a pair of glasses on his face, a purple vest and slacks and a white undershirt decorating his body. Chopper's attention, however, was kept at the headband wrapped around his forehead, with a metal plate sticking from the front with the insignia of a music note on it; an eighth note, specifically. "Chopper, isn't it? It's been a while."

"You...you're with Orochimaru..." the reindeer growled, Tails slowly glancing back at him; that name again, the same that he had mentioned in Twilight Plains.

The ninja gave off a light chuckle, closing his eyes and nodding rather slowly. "Ah, you do remember me. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't remember who you were on first glance, though." The human's gaze went to the rather stoic Tails and the visibly anxious Patamon, and he uttered, "Ah, your little friends don't know who I am...I am Kabuto Yakushi, right-hand man to the world famous missing-nin Orochimaru."

"And in line with the Army of Darkness to boot..." Chopper growled lowly, earning a shocked glance from Tails and Patamon. "What are you doing here?"

Kabuto gave off another slight chuckle, tilting his head back with a slight sigh. "Ah...isn't it obvious? I'm here to collect something that an associate of ours failed to take when he passed by here."

The image of Crocodile passed through Tails' mind, and he quickly pulled his namesakes towards him as if to try and protect the Chaos Emeralds stored within. "So you're here to pick up the pieces left behind by Crocodile?" Chopper remarked, holding up his fists slightly. "Don't count on it."

Patamon very slowly looked up as well, Kabuto giving off a wide smirk and chuckling lowly. "I am, actually...and there's little you can do about it." He proceeded to motion forward, uttering, "Take them."

All of the cloaked figures abruptly lunged forward at a high speed, Chopper crouching slightly with a light growl. "Get ready, you two!"

"Wh-what?" Patamon stammered in alarm, watching as Tails scooped him up before leaping into the air, two of the ninja leaping after him. A quick spin and Tails had kicked both of them away, down towards where Chopper was leaning away from several dagger swipes from two more. He managed to duck under the attackers and abruptly reverted to Walk Point, ramming his antlers into both ninja and sending them flying backwards. Tails landed at this time on Chopper's back, watching as several more began approaching. "Th-they're still coming!"

"Don't worry, we can handle them," Chopper responded, looking up at Tails. "On my mark, shoot straight for Kabuto, alright?"

Tails nodded in response, Chopper ducking down and warping to Heavy Point, grasping Tails in his hands as Patamon scrambled to Chopper's hat. "Heavy Vulpine Pitch!"

The ninja lunged towards Chopper, only for the reindeer to powerfully fling Tails at a high speed towards Kabuto. Using his downwards momentum, Chopper reverted back to Walk Point and jerked his head back, slamming into all of the ninja and sending them flying backwards; as they flew through the air, however, they abruptly vanished in a puff of smoke, Chopper looking back at them with a gasp. "Clones?"

Kabuto simply stared at the quickly approaching Tails, giving off a slight smirk and quickly reaching his hand forth. He managed to grab Tails' wrist in midflight, abruptly halting the fox's momentum and jerking him to an abrupt, a rather painful halt. Tails let out a rather shrill scream from the feeling of his arm being popped right out of its socket, dangling above the ground as Chopper and Patamon turned around to him. "T-Tails!" the little Digimon shrieked.

"Hmhmhm...such a risky tactic," Kabuto remarked, glancing down at the trembling and quickly tearing up Tails. "Of course, it'd rely on fast arms to stop it...but I am a ninja, so fast reflexes are all a part of what I do."

"Let him go!" Chopper shouted, stepping forth with a slight growl.

"Ah ah ah," Kabuto remarked, abruptly holding up one of his hands. A few quick movements of his hands, and it began glowing a faint blue, Chopper's eyes widening. "Don't make any sudden moves, we wouldn't want your little student to suffer even greater damage."

Chopper gave off another slight growl as Kabuto moved his glowing hand to Tails' throat, the fox opening his eyes in between winces and whimpers. Patamon's rather frightened and nervous gaze caught Kabuto's attention, and the ninja chuckled. "Curious? This is my Chakra Scalpel. Usually used as a medical jutsu, it's capable of creating incisions inside of the body without opening a wound, limiting the risk of an infection. However..."

"It can also be used offensively..." Chopper uttered, giving an irate growl and shiver. "To damage the insides of the body, killing the target from the inside..."

Patamon's eyes widened even further as Kabuto placed the glowing hand closer to Tails' neck, the fox's eyes widening a little further as some tears streamed onto Kabuto's hand. "Now then...I suggest you hand over the Chaos Emeralds, or your little friend here's going to die."

Chopper gave off another growl, trembling as his eyes trailed to Tails. The fox had, during this time, clenched his working arm into a fist, generating a light within it and forming a small, white object. The reindeer blinked as Tails managed to grunt, "I...don't...think so..."

Kabuto abruptly looked down as Tails flicked the small mouse-like machine towards him; the ninja's eyes widened and he quickly made a swiping motion towards Tails as the device exploded, sending them both flying from each other in the process. Tails toppled to a halt in front of Chopper, Patamon hopping down to his side and squeaking, "T-Tails!"

The fox gave off a tremble, now coughing hoarsely and beginning to spit up a fairly decent amount of blood. Chopper growled lowly, uttering, "He didn't make a lethal cut...but if we don't get him some help immediately, then it'll become fatal..."

Chopper looked back up, taking notice of Kabuto slowly standing up, his body slightly charred and burnt from the attack. "T-tch...damned mutt," he growled, turning towards the trio witgh an irate glare. "It looks like he's signed your death warrant."

With this comment, Kabuto lunged forth, both hands now enveloped in light. Chopper's eyes widened and he quickly scooped up Tails and Patamon, dashing towards Kabuto as well. "Patamon...get Tails to the port and get help!" the reindeer shouted, abruptly flinging them both behind Kabuto. The ninja looked around slightly, the distraction being enough for Chopper to grasp onto his forearms, putting him out of range of the glowing hands. Patamon and Tails toppled to a halt, the Digimon slowly looking up at Chopper, who shouted, "Go, now! I can't hold him off forever!"

Patamon began inching back slightly, holding onto Tails with a light whimper. The fox gave off another cough and spit up some blood, murmuring shakily, "C-...Captain...w-..."

"Go, NOW! That's an order!" Chopper shouted, Kabuto abruptly plowing his feet into Chopper's chest and knocking him onto his back. "QUICK!"

With little else to do, Patamon began attempting to drag Tails away, the fox managing to muster up the last of his strength to spin his namesakes about, propelling them away as Kabuto landed a short distance in front of them, holding up his glowing hands in defense. "You're not going anywhere."

"Oh yes we are..." Patamon mumbled shakily, taking a breath and causing his entire body to puff outwards as if it were a balloon. Kabuto blinked as Patamon abruptly spit out a blast of condensed air, shouting, "Boom Bubble!"

The attack impacted Kabuto with enough force to send him staggering backwards, enabling for Tails to slide in between his legs and slowly pick up speed, his disorientation conflicting with the adrenaline of the situation and enabling him to run somewhat sloppily through the path, occasionally tripping only to be kept going by his rotating namesakes. Kabuto looked around as the duo vanished from view, growling lowly, "Tch...got away."

"YAH!" Kabuto was quickly forced to turn around as Chopper lunged at him, fist wound up. "Heavy Gong!"

"I don't think so," the ninja remarked, barely able to evade Chopper's punch and plowing both glowing hands into his stomach, Chopper's eyes shooting open.

"G-guh..." The reindeer slowly slid down to his knees, reverting to Brain Point and trembling, his vision fading.

Kabuto looked down at him, furrowing his brow and scooping up the cervine, uttering, "Hmph...I might not have the Emeralds...but you might still prove your usefulness yet."

The ninja gave off a slight chuckle and closed his eyes, abruptly vanishing. Meanwhile, Tails and Patamon had managed to dash into the port, looking up at the boat they had planned to take. The machine gave off a dull, resounding horn blow that caused Patamon to gasp. "W-we're not going to make it!"

"Oh yes we are..." Tails uttered, now beginning to get light headed, his vision becoming hazy. With what strength he had left, he leaped off of the edge of the dock, managing to flop onto the ship behind some boxes, both of them panting heavily as the fox gave off a few more wet coughs, some more blood being splashed onto his front. "N-nn..."

"W-...we made it...!" Patamon stammered, quickly turning to Tails; his relieved expression turned to one of horror when he noticed the fox's slightly glassy eyes beginning to trail shut. "T-...Tails...?" Now genuinely panicked, the little creature began shaking him about, squealing, "Tails! TAILS! NO! SOMEONE! HELP! PLEASE!"


	38. The Telekinetic Mewtwo

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 38-The Telekinetic Mewtwo

Victor and the others took a rather wary step back, Yoshiro furrowing his brow and uttering, "Excuse me...?"

"Need I repeat myself?" the mutant addressed as Mewtwo remarked with a tired sigh. "You all are coming with me. They are orders directly from my superior."

Flashbacks to his latest dream flew through Victror's head, the dragon blinking and stepping forth slightly. "You...you're a part of the Army of Darkness, aren't you?"

Mewtwo slowly glanced at Victor, his formerly hateful expressioon turning curious for a moment. "...hm. I didn't think it was that obvious who I worked for."

"It was a hunch," Victor responded bluntly, gripping his sword in both hands as those behind him adopted a defensive stance. "If you think we're going to let you just up and take us, you're sadly mistaken!"

Mewtwo closed its eyes at this, giving off a slight smirk and chuckle; it was only now Victor was able to notice that all throughout their conversation, Mewtwo hadn't opened its mouth once except to sigh, making it seem that its voice was coming from all around. "I had learned from the others that you were hard-headed...only now do I see just how foolish it truly makes you."

Victor gave off snarl in response, Yoshiro aiming an arrow at Mewtwo. "I've had enough of this. You're letting us go, now."

With this comment, the arrow was fired, Mewtwo glancing at it lazily. Its eyes suddenly began glowing blue and caused the arrow to come to a halt in midair, surrounded by a faint blue aura and causing Yoshiro's eyes to widen. "Wh-what..."

"Is that the best that you can do? I must say, I'm disappointed," Mewtwo remarked, the arrow suddenly crumpling into a small pile of wood and metal and dropping harmlessly to the ground. "Whether the other generals are truly as useless as I think they are, or your prior victories were dumb luck doesn't matter. You cannot win this battle."

"We'll see about that!" Victor shouted, abruptly charging forward and causing the others to gasp.

"Victor, don't, you idiot!" Sakura shouted, watching as Mewtwo's eyes glowed once mroe, a similarly hued light ensnaring Victor and lifting him into the air.

"G-gghh...what the...hell?" the dragon growled, thrashing about in midair and trying to reach at Mewtwo. "Put me down!"

"If you say so," Mewtwo responded, Victor suddenly being thrown backwards at a high speed, slamming into the invisible wall with a grunt and sliding to the ground.

"Victor!" Kokira gasped, rushing to his side and bending down to him. "Are you alright?"

The dragon gave off a growl in response and slowly staggered back to his feet, grunting, "Y-...yeah...I'm fine..."

Kokira gave off a slight nod, glancing back at Mewtwo as it slowly descended to the ground, looking over the group staring at it and murmuring, "I'll give the rest of you a chance to try and stop me, if not only because it's fair. Who would like to go next?"

Sonic gave off a smirk in response, abruptly crouching and calling, "Let's see if your little light trick'll be able to catch me!" With this comment, the hedgehog shot forth at a high speed, Mewtwo giving off a sigh and lifting one of its deformed hands. Sonic's progress was halted when a barrier of light appeared in front of him, the hedgehog slamming face-first into it and sliding to the ground with a groan. "Oh...that hurt..."

The barrier promptly disappeared, Mewtwo turning to Kokira, who had gripped her staff with both hands. The tip abruptly sprung to life, giving off a large amount of flames which were flung towards Mewtwo. The mutant proceeded to lift up one of his deformed hands, waving it about and dissipating the attack amidst a wave of distorted air. Kokira's eyes widened as Gatomon stepped forth, eyes beginning to glow. "You might be able to stop physical attacks, but can you stop a technique like this? Cat's Eye!"

Mewtwo and Gatomon locked eyes at this, the mutant narrowing its own gaze and murmuring, "Hmph...don't get arrogant."

The creature's own eyes immediately gave off a yellow glow, Gatomon giving off a yelp as it was suddenly sent staggering back, some bolts of yellow energy streaking across its body and causing it to slink to the ground with a shiver. "Gatomon!" Sakura gasped, turning towards Mewtwo, who once again flicked its wrist towards her, this time sending everyone flying backwards, slamming into the wall. "Guh!"

"You're beginning to bore me," Mewtwo uttered, lowering its hand and giving off a slight sigh. "I was expecting more, but..." Another sigh, the mutant closing its eyes. "Ah well."

Victor slowly looked back up, giving off a growl and uttering, "G-gghh...damn...how is he even doing that..."

Kokira managed to plant one end of her staff into the ground, using it to push herself into a standing position. "It's not magic...then..."

Mewtwo looked over the duo with a contemplative expression, furrowing its brow and finally murmuring, "It's a little power known as telekinesis. I am able to manipulate anything around me using the power of my mind."

The others' eyes widened, Yoshiro giving off a slight grunt and murmuring, "Tch...you must have an awfully powerful mind then..."

"I was genetically created to be the most powerful of my kind," Mewtwo responded with what could have been interpreted as a tone of displeasure. "The ultimate fighting machine."

Victor gave off a growl in response, uttering, "Tch...how on earth...are we supposed to combat THAT?"

_"A better question would be...if he has that kind of power...why hasn't he fought harder?"_ Kokira thought to herself, narrowing her gaze slightly. _"If Mewtwo is as powerful as he claims...he should have been able to do more than what he's done so far...maybe even defeat us...why is he holding back?"_

Yoshiro proceeded to line up several arrows at this time, narrowing his gaze and uttering, "You may have a lot of power, but you're outnumbered. All we have to do is whittle you down."

The mutant paused for a moment, closing its eyes before beginning to chuckle once more, this time smirking rather widely. "Hmph...that's a risky tactic. And one that will ultimately end in failure." The mutant extended its arms outwards, calling a bit louder, "Your physical limitations will be exceeded long before my mental capacity even breaks a metaphorical sweat. Give in now, and maybe you will be spared."

Victor narrowed his gaze in response, uttering rather harshly, "You'll have to kill me before you can get me to give up."

With this comment, the dragon began charging forward with another growl, Mewtwo narrowing its gaze and causing its eyes to begin glowing once more. Victor was abruptly ensnared in the same blue aura as before, causing him to come to a grinding halt, swinging his claws towards the mutant with a growl. "Hmph...pathetic," Mewtwo uttered, holding up one of his hands. "In this position...I can crush you like a bug. Psychic energy coursing in from all sides to break every bone in your body."

The others gave off a slight gasp, Victor grasping the hilt of his sword. "Just try me!" he snarled, abruptly flinging his weapon towards Mewtwo.

The action actually caught the Genetic Pokemon off guard, its eyes widening slightly as it tilted its head to the side to evade. "Persistent little..."

The blade didn't go very far, however, as it was abruptly caught in midair by a black figure materializing amidst a green light. Mewtwo slowly turned around, giving off a surprised blink as the small, spiky headed figure lunged at him, barely missing with a horizontal slice. "What the..."

Before Mewtwo could completely get away, another figure materialized above him, swiftly moving downwards and delivering a downwards slash with a blade, resulting in a strangled grunt from the mutant that sent some blood flying from the wound and caused it to stagger back. "Guh!"

The action caused the psychic aura to dissipate from Victor's body, the dragon dropping to his knees with a pant. "What..."

"I believe this is yours." Victor slowly looked up, finding his blade being handed to him by a familiar black-furred, spiky headed hedgehog.

"Shadow!" Sonic called out, stepping forth slightly as the black-furred doppelganger glanced back at him.

"If he's here..." Victor mumbled, slowly looking up at the one who had attacked Mewtwo; a familiar, gray-furred wolf wearing a black coat with a now blood-stained katana in hand. He glanced at Victor through a scarred eye, the dragon's rage returning once again as a scowl carved into his snout. "You!"

"Mewtwo, of the Army of Darkness," the wolf murmured, turning towards said mutant as he slowly looked up. "As a member of the Twilight Society, I will be taking you in."

**-Meanwhile-**

"I think that shouting came from over here..."

"How do you know? It might've moved since then..."

"Nonsense! Whatever it is, we'll find it."

"But it stopped about ten minutes ago..."

"Don't worry so much, it'll be fine! Just come on and...ugh, what's that smell?"

"I...th-think that's blood..."

"Ew...someone might be in trouble, that makes it even more important that we find them!"

"Y-you've got a point...b-but...w-we might be too late, don't you-"

"EEEAAAHHH!"

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"It's Tails!"

"T-...Tails? What's he...o-oh my...wh-what happened..."

"Quick, help me get him up! We have to get him to a doctor, now!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor hastily scrambled back to his feet, snatching his weapon away from Shadow and stepping towards the wolf that had just arrived. "Raibaru!"

Said lupine cast Victor a rather disinterested glance, Mewtwo giving a slight grunt and feeling at its wound. "Twilight Society, you say...?"

"Correct." This voice came from behind Raibaru, where two figures reappeared; the familiar images of Edward and Lucario. "Now I suggest you come quietly," the human murmured.

Mewtwo gave off another slight chuckle in response, straightening itself out as its wound began giving off a slight glow. "Hmhm...well this ought to make things a little more interesting than before."

The glowing wound abruptly dissipated, having completely closed up and causing Yoshiro's eyes to widen. "It...healed its own wound..."

"Raibaru, be careful!" Sakura called, stepping forth slightly. "That thing's got some potent telekinetic abilities!"

The wolf retained a serious expression, Mewtwo's eyes glowing once again. "You'd be wise to heed your ally's warning, pup..."

Before any other words could be said, Raibaru had abruptly vanished, Mewtwo's eyes widening as the wolf reappeared in front of the Psychic-type, delivering a snap kick to its stomach that sent it skidding backwards. Victor gave off a blink as Raibaru charged forward once again, making several slices that Mewtwo very quickly managed to avoid, though it did suffer several cuts from not being able to move fast enough. "Gghh...troublesome pest," Mewtwo uttered, forcing a hand forth and sending Raibaru skidding backwards with a psychic blast.

The wolf glanced up ever so slightly, watching as Mewtwo's tail was snatched up by Shadow, the hedgehog leaping up and delivering a rocket-powered kick into its back. The Psyshic-type grunted as it was sent flying onto its front, only for Shadow to take advantage of its grappled tail, flipping about and sending it flying towards Edward. Grinning in anticipation, the human span around and delivered an axe kick right onto its back, Mewtwo giving off a loud grunt and slumping down, a light gasp for breath being heard under Edward's foot. "I'm sorry, what was that about being 'careful'...?" Raibaru murmured rather mockingly, glancing at Sakura with a glazed expression.

The kunoichi pursed her lips with a slight sigh, Edward bending down to Mewtwo with a smirk and uttering, "As for you...you're coming with us."

"Not...likely," the mutant uttered rather bluntly, glancing around at the others. "So it appears I've lost this time...spent too much time testing you, and that's my fault. But know this...the Army's plans have not been interrupted at all. Mysterra, in its entirety will bow to our power...and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

With this comment, Mewtwo vanished in a flash of light from under Edward's foot, the teen momentarily falling off balance and having to hastily steady himself. "A-ah...he got away..."

Raibaru gave a slight nod, turning over to Victor. "Now...onto other issues."

The dragon went to stomp forward, however, he was abruptly grabbed from behind by Kokira, the vixen covering his mouth and calling, "I wouldn't worry, sirs, we've got this one!"

Victor gave off a blink and continued to thrash about angrily, giving off several muffled screams as Kokira bent down to his nonexistant ear. "Play along, remember, you're a fugitive!" she whispered rather urgently.

The motion caused Victor to pause, slowly slumping down as Edward gave a chuckle, stepping forth. "Aahh...you don't need to hide anything, Ms. Ikaru. We know about how you and your little buddies are attempting to prove his innocence."

Everyone's eyes shot open, Kokira's arm slumping slightly. "Wh-...what?"

"You heard us," Shadow murmured, folding his arms. "Commander Otohime briefed us on the situation, and we're offering our help."

Victor fell silent, Sakura murmuring, "He...didn't tell us that..."

"Of course he didn't," Raibaru murmured lowly, closing his eyes. "Then you'd be deliberately trying to seek us out for inside information, increasing the chances that you'd be caught."

The others exchanged a glance, Yoshiro uttering, "That does make sense..."

Victor finally managed to force his way out of Kokira's grasp, scowling at Raibaru and uttering, "I don't trust you. How do I know this isn't some trick to capture us?"

The wolf rolled its eyes at this, Shadow stepping forth once again and saying, "How else would we have figured out what you lot were doing if Commander Otohime HADN'T told us?"

Sakura bit her lower lip at this, looking down and sighing lowly. "You've got a point there..."

"Come," Raibaru uttered, extending a hand towards Victor. "You may not like having to cooperate with us, but it's the only way you're going to clear your name at this point."

The dragon looked back down at Raibaru's hand, narrowing his gaze with a slight growl. Despite his mind screaming at him to cut down the lupine right there, he finally settled for slapping the hand away, uttering flatly, "Fine. I'll accept your help this time. But remember, I don't trust you at ALL."

"I don't need you to trust me," Raibaru uttered, retracting his hand. "All I need is for you to follow my directions. Now come, we have work to do."


	39. From Bad to Worse

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 39-From Bad To Worse

A flash of green light erupted from nowhere, soon giving way to several silhouettes; Victor, Kokira, Raibaru, and the others reappeared in its place. "We're here."

Everyone looked up; they were a short distance away from the Twilight Castle, just far enough to stay out of considerable eyeshot. "I knew it!" Victor shouted, stepping towards Raibaru threateningly. "This was a set up!"

"Victor!" Sakura called scoldingly, holding him back as Kokira glanced at Raibaru expectantly.

"You're going to be disguised, don't worry," the wolf explained, Edward reaching into his coat and pulling out another, folded up.

"Victor, you're going to need to wear this," he said, handing it off to the dragon. "It'd be a little tricky explaining you being here if you were out in the open."

The dragon snatched the cloak away, quickly putting it on over his body and head, completely hiding his appearance sans the bottom of his feet. "Alright," Raibaru uttered, giving a nod. "Come on."

With the disguise up, the group began approaching the front gates, the guards casting them but a momentary glance before letting them by. They soon found themselves in the courtyard, headed towards the largest castle-like structure in the middle and causing Yoshiro to look about in curiosity. "...hmm. I've never seen structures like this before."

This incited a confident chuckle from Edward, who glanced at Yoshiro and murmured, "Yeah, that's the Twilight Society's defense systems for you...fortunately, we know our way around here perfectly."

The group soon arrived at the front of the main castle, entering inside and passing through several corridors; the many passes with the guards caused Victor to keep glancing about with a slight frown underneath his hood. "Hmph...I still don't trust you..."

Raibaru didn't offer a response, Shadow casting him a slight glance. "I wouldn't worry too much, Victor...soon enough, this will all be resolved."

Said dragon only narrowed his gaze further as the team headed upstairs a bit more, soon arriving at a rather fancy-looking pair of doors. Sonic blinked slightly, murmuring, "Where are we?"

Raibaru didn't answer, instead pushing open the doors and enabling the group to see the fairly large room on the other side. At the end was a desk, sitting at it being a rather familiar red-haired teen in black and red clothing, a ratty dark-haired male standing nearby him with a slight slouch. Victor gave off a blink, uttering, "What the..."

"We've arrived, sir," Shadow remarked, giving a bow and prompting the red-haired boy to nod.

"Good," he uttered, slowly standing up and folding his hands behind him. "You're free to remove the disguise, Victor, I don't mean you any harm."

The dragon looked up with a bolt, clenching his fists and growling, "I knew it! This was a trick!"

Raibaru gave off a slight sigh as Victor began stomping towards the desk, the wolf murmuring, "Should I restrain him, Monarch...?"

"You may," the boy - obviously Gaara - responded, prompting Raibaru to vanish; a moment later, he had dashed past Victor, effortlessly knocking him in the back of the neck and causing the dragon to collapse onto his front, now unconscious.

The others gave a slight blink, looking up as Kokira murmured, "N-not to be rude sir, but...don't you think that was a little extreme?"

Gaara closed his eyes, lowering his head slightly. "Maybe. But we wouldn't want him behaving so barbarically while we discussed your stay."

Everyone paused for a moment, Yoshiro murmuring, "Our...stay?"

"Yes," Gaara responded; before any other questions could be asked, all of the others were abruptly smashed over the backs, collapsing onto their fronts as Raibaru stood behind them, a serious expression on his face. "...an extended stay. Victor, you and your allies are hereby placed under arrest for high treason against the Celestial Alliance."

**-Meanwhile-**

Patamon very slowly began opening his eyes, giving off a few raspy pants as his eyes began adjusting to the light hanging above. "N-...no...wh-what..."

The small creature closed his eyes back, squinting them for a moment to enable them to get used to the light. A few minutes of this and he very slowly sat up, his vision finally settling itself and enabling him to see the somewhat bland bedroom before him. "Wh-...where am I...?"

"Oh, good, you're awake..." Patamon's gaze went to the side of the bed; a small, rabbit girl with cream-colored fur and a few orange stripes on her head and rather large, drooping ears alongside a white muzzle stood beside him. She wore an orange dress and sneakers, with a small, pudgy, blue creature floating to the side. "I was getting worried..."

Patamon gave off another slight blink, sitting up a bit more and murmuring, "Wh-...who are you?"

"My name's Cream," the rabbit responded, the blue creature by her side leaning forward with a slight squeak. "And this is my friend, Cheese."

"I-I'm Patamon," he murmured, looking down, then back up. "Wh-where am I?"

Cheese proceeded to alight in Cream's lap, the rabbit girl scooping it in her arms and explaining, "A boat on its way to the mainland in Twilight Plains. Me and a friend were-"

The explanation seemed to cause Patamon's eyes to shoot open, the creature leaning up with a horrified expression. "W-wait a minute! Where's Tails?"

Cream's formerly soft expression turned into one of anxiety, she and Cheese turning away with a slight wince. "He, ah..."

Patamon's eyes widened even further, tears already beginning to form in anticipation of the worst. "H-...he isn't..."

"He's still alive." This new voice prompted Patamon and Cream to glance at the door at the side of the room; a new girl stood in the doorway, covered in pink fur with a similarly-colored head of short hair and a red dress with matching boots.

"O-...oh...that's...good..." Patamon mumbled, giving a sigh and hanging his head while the girl approached.

"Amy Rose," the girl suddenly added, extending a hand towards Patamon and smiling. "I'm a friend of Tails'. You're lucky we found you when we did."

Patamon looked back up, gingerly taking the girl's gloved hand with both of his paws and shaking. "P-Patamon. I'm a friend of Tails' too...h-how is he?"

Amy's smile turned into a serious expression, the girl murmuring, "Yeah...he's alive, but..." Patamon's eyes widened further as Amy turned around, headed towards the door. "Well...we're still waiting for a response from a doctor."

"M-may I see him?" Patamon piped up, quickly leaning forward on the bed. "I-I'm worried..."

Amy glanced back at Patamon, pausing for a moment before nodding. "...alright. I was watching over him before coming to check on you anyway."

Patamon nodded rather quickly, hopping down from his bed as Cream handed him his satchel from a nearby desk. The trio quickly made their way through the hallways, returning to a room labelled "medical ward" with a cross emblazoned on it. They pushed open the door and poked their heads through; a standard room with several shelves of medical supplies, a male human doctor going over a clipboard while a table held the bandaged Tails on it. A breathing apparatus was hooked up to his muzzle, a device next to him giving an occasional beep to signify his heartrate. "H-hello?"

"Hm?" the doctor remarked, turning around to the others. "Ah, there you are. Come in, I don't want anyone seeing I'm taking care of a fugitive in here."

"R-right..." Cream murmured, the others quickly entering and closing the door behind them. "H-how is he?"

The doctor proceeded to scoop up a folder from the nearby desk, flipping it open and murmuring, "Right, right, I was just looking over the results..." His eyes scanned over the pages inside for a moment, before widening and followed by him uttering, "Oh my...this isn't good."

"Wh-what?" Patamon gasped, the others eyes widening.

"My stocks dropped while I wasn't looking!" the doctor remarked, picking out one of the pages from the folder and narrowing his gaze. "Damned guy told me it was a safe choice..." After shaking his head about, he placed the page aside and continued, "Now, onto the test results..." The doctor abruptly let out a gasp, leaning back and uttering, "Oh no!"

"Wh-what is it?" Cream gasped, holding Cheese closer to her anxiously.

"I sent a birthday card to my uncle and it hasn't come in yet," the doctor grumbled, planting a hand to his face with a sigh. "I told him it'd get lost in the mail...there was 30 bucks in it...but enough about that, as for your friend..." The doctor flipped through another page before uttering grimy, "Your friend is going to die."

"WH-WHAT?" Patamon shouted, quickly staggering forth in alarm.

"...at least, he will when his Lunar Guild insurance kicks in and they trace him down," the doctor responded, looking up with a passive glance. "I mean, I'm probably going to tell them what I know, I wouldn't just feign ignorance with that much evidence against-"

"WOULD YOU JUST TELL US WHAT TAILS' STATUS IS? Amy practically shrieked, spontaneously flinging out a fairly large, yellow and red-colored hammer seemingly from nowhere and causing the doctor to shrink back with a slight shout.

"G-gah! Alright, alright!" he quickly stammered, Amy lowering her weapon and prompting the doctor to pull out another slip of black paper, sliding it into a device on the wall and switching it on, revealing a diagram of what Patamon could tell was the upper portion of Tails' body; the most noticeable portion of it being a somewhat large scar headed across the top and skinniest portion of the diagram. "Now as you can see, there's a large cut right here at his windpipe. It's preventing him from breathing appropriately, and it doesn't seem to be healing up."

"I-it's not?" Cream murmured nervously, she and Amy glancing at each other.

The doctor shook his head, beginning to go through the shelf at the side and continuing, "All of our remedies are having no effect whatsoever on him. Something is halting the process."

The memory of Kabuto's glowing arms shot through Patamon's mind, the little creature wincing as Amy asked, "Isn't there anything at all that we can do?"

A few moments passed in silence, the doctor rubbing his chin and narrowing his gaze in thought. "...well...I THINK there is one more thing we could try." He proceeded to reach into a nearby shelf, pulling out a book and quickly flipping through it. He finally came to a stop, putting his finger at a specific portion and saying, "There we are. There's an herb here assumed to be a panacea, a cure-all. It's found in the forest near the port we'll be dropped off at. But it's fairly rare...and the possibility of it working is kinda slim."

Patamon looked up, giving a blink and quickly stepping forth a little more. "I-it's our only shot right now. I'll go and find it."

Amy glanced over at Patamon, frowning and setting her hammer down, leaning against the handle. "What? No offense, but how do you expect to find a rare plant in a potentially hostile forest by yourself? I'm going instead."

"I AM going!" Patamon responded surprisingly sharply, turning towards Amy with a frown. "Tails protected my village and saved us, now it's my turn to repay the favor! There's nothing you can say that'll convince me otherwise!"

Cream and Cheese both glanced at Amy in surprise, the female hedgehog pausing for a moment before sighing lowly, closing her eyes and hanging her head. "Alright...I suppose I can't really stop you then."

"We'll be making landfall in about ten minutes or so," the doctor continued, closing the book up and holding it out to Patamon. Before he could take it, however, the doctor retracted it with a thoughtful expression, murmuring, "Eh...then again...I spent a bit of money on this equipment, and I wouldn't feel too comfortable with-" Amy gripped her hammer again with a slight grunt, the doctor shrinking back again and holding out to Patamon again. "Fine, fine, just make sure to give it back when you're done!"

**-Meanwhile-**

"Nngh...my head..."

Teresa slowly opened up her eyes, the throbbing in her head causing her vision to adjust a bit slower to the fairly dark surroundings. "The hell...?"

"Teresa? You there?" The sound of Renji's voice prompted Teresa to quickly look around, finally noticing the shinigami in a different cage. "Oh, good, you're awake."

The dragoness gave a slight nod, looking around and murmuring, "Where's Don Patch?" She glanced to the other side of the room, finding another cage with the aforementioned orange blob inside; currently wearing an animal muzzle, a pair of cat ears, and paws on his hands and feet. He constantly pawed at the bars of his cage, giving off an occasional purr and causing Teresa to frown slightly. "...moving on. Where are we?"

Renji looked around; the metal walls were dark and reddish-colored, with no windows for the group to look outside, and a single door facing all three cages. Despite this, a metallic hum could be heard from all around, causing Renji to murmur, "I think we may be on an airship..."

Teresa blinked in surprise, gripping at her bars and grunting, "Tch...great...how are we supposed to meet with the others now?"

Before any more words could be said, the door opened up, several tiny, round orange figures with docile expressions toting spears entering. Teresa gave a slight blink, Renji uttering rather bluntly, "These are our captors...? I feel a little ashamed..."

The crowd of orange creatures stepped aside, enabling another figure to approach; they were just as tiny and round as the others, wearing a rather intimidating silver mask with glowing yellow eyes piercing through. A cape billowed behind them, wearing gloves with armored spaulders and greaves over their fairly long feet and practically unseeable legs. "You're awake," the figure uttered in an uncharacteristically deep voice.

"Who are you?" Renji shouted, narrowing his gaze and gripping at the bars. "I hope you know how much trouble you're in for capturing a high-ranking member of the Lunar Guild!"

"That won't matter soon," the figure responded, approaching the cage holding Teresa. "My master is going to be turning you over to the Army of Darkness once we land."

Teresa and Renji's eyes widened, though Don Patch continued to extend his hand from in between the bars and experimentally bat at the masked figure keeping them hostage. "You won't get away with this!" Teresa shouted with a frown.

"On the contrary..." the masked figure uttered, snapping his gloved fingers and causing the doors to their cages to open up. The orange creatures stepped at the entrance and beckoned for the trio to step out, the masked figure uttering, "Come, my master wishes to speak to you."

"Shouldn't have done that!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, dropping his cat facade and lunging at the masked figure, fists clenched and wound up. "Prepare for a thrashi-"

Before the orange blob could land an attack, the masked figure speedily flicked his cape about, abruptly vanishing and causing Don Patch to land harmlessly, blinking. "Wha-"

"Too slow." Before anything else could be said, several flashes of crescent-shaped, yellow light flashed about Don Patch, generating a series of cuts as the short figure whizzed past him, a rather intimidating golden blade in hand with several spikes sticking from the sides. Don Patch froze up for a moment before collapsing, trembling as Teresa gave a gasp. "Now unless you wish to end up like him, then I suggest you move."

Renji gave a slight grunt, looking down; his own sword was gone, no doubt in storage by their captors. With no other choice, Teresa and Renji began following the figure out with Don Patch dragged along, passing through the hallways and glancing about; an occasional window would enable them to see the passing sky around them, proving Renji's earlier assumption correct. After the group had went up a stairwell, however, the formerly metallic and dark hallways were replaced by a rather regal background, with a red carpet extending through the halls and several pictures adorning the walls; each of them depicted a rather large and rotund red-robed bird-like figure. Teresa constantly glanced at the excessive amount of pictures, mumbling, "I'm guessing that overgrown bird is your master..."

"He can be a bit self-centered at points..." the masked figure responded, only to pause for a moment before continuing. "...very often."

Renji and Teresa both rolled their eyes in response as the masked figure led them to a pair of rather large doors. They were pushed open, enabling the group to look inside; it was what looked to be a large dining room, with a long table adorned with fancy silverware and many large chairs set up around it. At the very end of the table was the largest chair, where a certain figure was sitting inside. The exact same penguin from the pictures, dressed in a fuzzy, red robe with a similarly colored cap, light blue skin, and yellow-colored robed underneath holding back a rather round and large body. He leaned forward once the door opened, smirking and murmuring, "Well well, who have we here?"

"King Dedede, the prisoners have awakened," the masked figure responded, tossing Don Patch to the ground while Teresa and Renji were pushed forward.

The penguin, Dedede, gave off a rather gruff and hysterical laugh, his beak opening up fairly wide before he spoke again. "Great job, Meta Knight! Good to know you can actually follow directions!"

The masked figure, Meta Knight, simply gave a slight bow, Dedede repeatedly patting a hand against the table. "C'mere you guys, we're gettin' ready for lunch!"

Teresa and Renji looked up with a surprised blink. "Lunch?" Don Patch echoed, spontaneously sitting up with a surprised expression.

"You heard me, lunch!" King Dedede echoed, beckoning them forward with a smirk. "I'll bet those Army guys aren't gonna give you three square meals a day, so you'd better be thankful I'm doing this for ya!"

This only prompted the dragoness and shinigami to frown, the latter uttering, "You're not going to get away with this, Dedede. We're going to escape, and then you're going to pay for this crime."

Dedede gave off a less audible laugh, smirking widely and leaning forth a bit more, resting his head on his gloved hand and resting his elbow on the table. "I don't think so. Listen kid, you're in the custody of King Dedede...and you're not leavin' until I say so."


	40. Motives

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 40-Motives

A resounding bell-like "dong" was heard from all around the entire boat, people filing out of their rooms and headed off of the ramp leading into the port. Amongst them were Patamon and Amy, the duo looking around at surrounding town, then at the forest nearby. "We've got around 45 minutes before the boat prepares to make its next run," Amy remarked, looking down at Patamon. "We'd better get moving, ASAP."

"R-right..." Patamon murmured lowly, glancing down at the book the doctor had given them prior. The front cover read "Natural Remedies And How They Are Applied". It caused the little creature to pause for a moment, only snapped out of it when Amy called out to him once more. "C-coming!"

Making sure to keep a firm grip on the book, Patamon began dashing off after her, unaware of a figure clad entirely in a black robe staring at the duo from behind a building. The figure bowed its head slightly, abruptly vanishing amidst a small pillar of flames and leaving behind a few traces of orange feathers.

**-Meanwhile-**

The vast majority of the meal passed by in silence, the only real sounds being the occasional clatter of dishes and the sound of Don Patch and King Dedede ravenously shovelling food in their mouths. Teresa and Renji stared at them blankly, the latter uttering, "I'm not entirely sure what to make of this."

Teresa could only sigh lowly, her eyes trailing to Meta Knight, who stood by and would occasionally scoop up an emptied plate. "...where are we going, exactly, if you don't mind me asking?" she uttered.

Meta Knight cast the dragoness a slight glance before answering. "One of the Army of Darkness's bases near the border of the Solar Mountain Range."

This time, it was Renji's turn to glance at Meta Knight, murmuring, "Wait, they've had one in that area?"

"You take for granted their resources and how well-hidden they can be," Meta Knight responded plainly, looking at the shinigami. "I'm lucky I managed to obtain the information we have."

Teresa gave a slight frown, responding, "Well...don't think this changes anything, we-"

"Wait a minute," Renji remarked rather quickly, leaning up in his seat slightly. "What do you mean, you're lucky to have information? Aren't you a part of the Army of Darkness?"

Meta Knight didn't get to respond, as Dedede gave off a slight chuckle, wiping at his beak with a napkin. "There's a funny story about that...no, I'm not. Yet."

"Yet?" Renji echoed, his eyes widening slightly. "...wait a minute...you're planning on handing us over as bartering chips, aren't you?"

Dedede gave off a hysterical laugh, clapping his hands together rather slowly and dramatically. "Give the guy a medal, he's figured out my scheme!"

Teresa's eyes narrowed themselves, and a scowl affixed itself to her snout. "So you're going to give us over to the Army of Darkness so that you can join them?"

"Correct," Meta Knight responded, looking up slightly. "The King's past attempts did not end well."

A frown was formed on Dedede's face, and he leaned back, folding his hands together on his stomach in thought. "They thought I wasn't 'good enough', or 'would be more of a liability'...but having been able to capture one of the biggest thorns in their side and his two buddies'll persuade them otherwise!"

Dedede gave off another hysterical laugh, slapping one hand on the table and causing the others to just barely see his stubby feet kicking about underneath him. "Why?" Teresa echoed, leaning forth with a slight grunt. "Why go through all this trouble? They're evil!"

"So?" Dedede responded, leaning forth with a wide smirk and chuckle. "I'm doing it 'cause it's fun!"

Teresa and Renji both gave off a surprised blink, Don Patch abruptly slamming both hands on the table and standing up in his chair. "You can't begin to tell me that was an acceptable reason!"

Dedede glanced over at Don Patch, only smirking in response to his outburst. "Hehehe...oh yeah? I'm the king of a region known as Dream Land...but it's WAY too boring over there. Pilfering food and making crazy laws can only entertain someone for so long!" The oversized penguin placed a hand to his chest in a rather sophisticated manner, adding, "Especially someone with as refined a taste in activities as me."

Before he could say much else, Dedede gave off a rather resounding belch that caused some of the plates and glasses on the table to vibrate. This resulted in Don Patch and Dedede himself bursting into hysterical laughter, leaning back in their chairs and slapping the table. "...yes. Very refined," Meta Knight responded with barely audible sarcasm. He glanced back at Teresa and Renji, adding, "It's nothing against either of you. I am simply honor bound to follow the orders of my king."

Renji gave off a slight frown, grunting lowly, "Tch...I'd sympathize with you if we weren't in a situation like this..."

Teresa glanced back at the shinigami, lowering her voice and murmuring, "Look...we may be in a bad situation right now...but when Victor and the others realize we don't show up, they may be able to help us out here..."

The shinigami furrowed his brow in response, looking back at Dedede with a serious expression. "That's a gamble...but we don't have much choice right now. We've got our hands tied...we'll have to hope they can find a way over here to help us."

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor only found himself waking up when he hit a hard, stone ground, snapping him back to reality almost instantly. "G-gah..."

He slowly looked up, only to find Yoshiro tossed to the ground next to him and the sound of iron doors closing. His gaze went to the source; the bars of a jail cell greeted him, with Raibaru standing on the other side. Victor's expression turned crazed once again and he lunged at the bars, trying to swipe at Raibaru, who leaned away to avoid the dragon's reach. "Get over here so I can throttle you, you traitor!"

"Oh, I'm the traitor?" Raibaru echoed with a rather sickening layer of sarcasm. "Funny, coming from the one who betrayed his masters, and his world."

Victor let out an enraged snarl, gripping at the bars of his prison and uttering venomously, "For the last fucking time...I did NOT TAKE THE DAMNED ESSENCE!"

Raibaru seemed less than interested, turning away and closing his eyes. "I'd suggest you calm down, you might get a heart attack. And the Twilight Monarch wishes to keep you alive in case you crack and wish to tell us where the Essence is."

"I'm not telling you SHIT, because there isn't anythihng for me to tell!" Victor spat back, trying to wrench at the iron bars fruitlessly.

Raibaru glanced back at Victor with a glazed expression, giving off a slight sigh and murmuring, "Ah well...I was expecting a little more from you, lizard."

The wolf turned away slightly, Victor giving off a very audible growl once more; however, he had slowly began attempting to call down, sighing lowly. "...you're wrong. Neither me or my teammates had anything to do with this."

Raibaru very slowly glanced back at Victor, a more curious expression than before now crossing his snout. "I'd expect you to deny your own involvement...but I must admit, I'm a tad surprised you're not pinning this on one of them, trying to excuse yourself as an unwilling accomplice."

"First off, I haven't seen Tails OR that freak of nature Don Patch since the Solar Mountain siege," Victor responded bluntly, narrowing his gaze. "Second off, they COULDN'T have...Tails is too much of a pussy to try something like that, and Don Patch is too STUPID to actually pull it off."

Victor's expression softened ever so slightly, and his gaze began traveling to the floor, a slight sigh coming from his lips. "...and...I guess...I can trust them not to do something like that...as much as I HATE to admit it...they're my friends..."

Several tense moments of silence passed, Victor staring at the floor, and Raibaru staring at Victor carelessly. Finally, the wolf closed his eyes, murmuring, "I'll let you in on a little secret..."

Victor looked up slightly, Raibaru turning to face him, now with a genuinely antagonistic expression. "I don't care. I don't care whether you're innocent or not, whether you're as guilty as they come, and frankly, whether or not you even manage to prove yourself innocent. I'm simply following orders."

Raibaru took a small step towards Victor, entering reach of his claws; however, the dragon didn't lash at him, simply staring with a stupefied expression. "I live to obey the orders of my superior; it's my reason for existing. I am a servant through and through, and whether my master's orders are logical or irrational, good or evil, I couldn't care less."

With one swift movement, Raibaru had reached into Victor's cage, grasping the dragon's vest and yanking him into the cage bars roughly. "Without my master, I am nothing. I have no other reason for being a part of this world. Without orders to follow, I might as well be dead. So don't try and convince me that what I'm doing is wrong, because unless you can convince my master otherwise, then you're simply wasting your breath."

Victor could only stare blankly as Raibaru pushed him away, turning about and walking off. "You're going to be interrogated later tonight...I suggest you think long and hard about your future, however brief it may be." The sound of another, heavy door closing was heard, leaving Victor to stare incredulously at the iron bars and the floor where Raibaru once stood.

**-Meanwhile-**

The only sounds throughout the forest were those of the shifting of undergrowth, and the occasional shriek of wildlife all around. "Ugh...this place is murder on my outfit..." Amy uttered lowly, brushing some leaves from her hair as Patamon toddled after her, the book halfway open and his eyes scanning all over it.

"...h-huh. You know there's a natural remedy that can help cure hiccups?" Patamon remarked curiously, looking up at Amy, who whirled around to him with a rather annoyed expression.

"We're trying to save Tails' life, and you're looking through that book instead of keeping an eye out?" she snapped rather harshly, Patamon shrinking back with a horrified expression and shiver, whimpering lowly. A few moments passed before Amy's expression began softening, the hedgehog girl rubbing her face and murmuring, "Ugh...I'm sorry Patamon...this place is really bugging the hell out of me...not to mention the situation Tails is in..."

"I-...it's alright," Patamon responded rather hastily, waving a paw about in an attempt to calm her down. "Y-you're right, I should be paying more attention..."

Amy waved a hand about, turning around and murmuring, "No, no...for all intents and purposes, we could find some alternate cure in that book that'll help us just as much, if not mo-"

Her sentence was cut off when a spear was thrust out from the bushes, stopping mere inches from her face. Amy yelped in shock and staggered back, quickly yanking out her hammer and causing Patamon to look up in shock. Several figures leaped out from the underbrush, landing onto tree branches or all around the duo; they could be identified as some sort of reptile-like creatures with bulbous noses, tribal wear, and - for some mundane reason - boots. "Wh-what's going on?" Patamon squeaked in a panic.

"I dunno," Amy responded cautiously, narrowing her gaze. "But if these guys think they're going to take us without a fight, then they're dead-"

Amy was cut off once again when something whistled by, implanting itself into her neck and causing the hedgehog to yelp. "G-gah! What the..." Her gaze went to where her neck was seemingly stung, a small dart sticking out of it. "What...is...thiiiiiii..." Amy droned off, her body seemingly freezing up and causing her to collapse rather unceremoniously to the ground.

"A-Amy!" Patamon yelped in panic, staggering over to the hedgehog girl's side, only for several spears to be pointed at him. "A-ah! P-please, don't hurt me!"

The reptiles, however, remained on the offensive, seemingly ready to stab their weapons into Patamon at any moment. Before the decisive blow could be dealt, however, several streaks of reddish orange light shot down, severing all of the spears and causing the reptiles to recoil with shrieks and shouts. Patamon's eyes widened as he looked down at what had attacked; several flaming darts that almost looked like feathers. "Wh-...what...?"

Before anything else could be said, a black-clad figure abruptly fell to the ground from above, their entire body hidden under their cloak with the exception of clawed, tough-looking feet almost reminiscent of talons, and feathered, orange hands; obviously some type of bird. The figure slowly stood up as the reptiles stared at them, backing away slightly as the figure lifted up one of their hands, palm facing the reptiles. "Stop. They mean you no harm," the figure said, the reptiles giving off a slight blink.

"Wh-...who are..." Patamon murmured rather squeakily, only cut off when the figure continued talking.

"They trespass, but without malice. All they require is a special natural aid for their dying friend," the figure continued, lowering their hand ever so slightly as the reptiles began dropping their own guard. "Once their errand is complete, they will depart immediately."

Several moments passed by in silence, the reptiles giving each other a slight glance before nodding ever so slightly, beckoning towards Patamon and the robed figure. Said figure turned around to scoop up Amy, slinging her over his shoulder and walking after the reptiles. "Come, little one," he remarked, Patamon giving a quick blink and nod before scampering after them.


	41. Revelations

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 41-Revelations

Several minutes passed as the dinosaurs led Patamon and the robed figure through the forest, said Digimon constantly looking up at the mysterious avian and the still unconscious Amy slung over his shoulder. "Uuuunnnngh..."

Well, not so unconscious any more. Patamon looked up with a slight blink, stammering, "A-Amy? are you alright?"

"Nnnnngh..." The hedgehog girl slowly tilted her head to the sides, suckling up a trail of drool that had began collecting in her mouth the entire time. "Where are we...?"

"Almost at your desired destination," the avian responded, his hidden eyes trained directly ahead of the path they were headed. Amy finally managed the strength to tilt her head up, groaning once more.

"Who...the heck...are you...?" she grunted.

The bird did not respond, instead staring ahead as the group finally arrived at an opening in the forest, entering what looked to be a somewhat large tribal village, several hide tents with various symbols adorning them scattered all over. Totems stood tall in certain areas of the village, and several more of the dinosaurs paced about. When the group entered the village, eyes trailed to them and several shrieks came out, passing lizards stepping out of the path to give them room.

Soon enough, the group had arrived towards the center of the village, where an older-looking dinosaur in a headress sat before them, another one covered in white skin and a tattered mantle covering his head and shoulders next to him. Once they had come close enough, the headdress-wearing lizard spoke. "What business do you have in my village, outsider? Your response will determine whether my archers skewer you on the spot."

"Do not worry," the avian responded, giving a bow and leaning on one knee. "I was simply escorting these two to you so that they may finish an errand. They require a special panacea herb that I do believe is in your possession."

The dinosaur remained silent, narrowing his gaze and uttering lowly, "How am I to know whether or not your words are true? Your outfit hides both your appearance and your true intentions."

The avian slowly looked back up, murmuring rather lowly, "I'm trying to avoid detection by my enemies, just so you know..." A few moments of pausing before the robed figure cleared his throat, seemingly retaking his professional tone. "...e-er, I mean...I can prove I mean well to you. I believer you're acquainted with a certain Victor?"

The name seemed to cause the chief to blink, the mantle-wearing lizard murmuring, "The blade-wielding dragon that freed us from our oppressors and left with Yoshiro...yes, you are correct."

"My friends here are accomplices of his," the bird responded, waving a hand towards Patamon and Amy, the latter of which was slowly forcing herself to her feet.

"Ggh...I don't know of any Victor..." Amy grunted lowly, the robed figure turning to her.

"Maybe you don't, but your friend Tails is highly acquainted with him." The comment seemed to win over Amy, who sighed and hung her head. "Anyway...if you will simply enable them to gather the herb they need, then we will be on our way without another moment of wasting."

The chief fell silent for a moment more, the white-skinned dinosaur taking the opportunity to step forth, looking up ever so slightly and reaching into his mantle. "I believe this is the plant you are looking for...?"

With one swift motion, the dinosaur tossed a familiar, round herb towards Patamon, the little Digimon quickly snatching it up and juggling it about before managing to get a firm grip on it. "Y-yes, this is it!" the little creature squeaked in shock, looking up with a smile beginning to work its way onto his face. "W-we might still have hope!"

"We still have to get out of here..." Amy murmured, glancing back at Patamon with a slight frown.

"I can take care of that," the avian responded, turning towards them and lifting up both hands, the insides of his sleeves giving off an orange glow and causing some embers to begin leaking out.

Both Patamon and Amy blinked, taking a small lstep back as the little hamster-like creature stammered, "Wh-...what're you..."

"Don't worry. With my spell, you will be transported to your friend's side in mere moments," the bird responded, his faintly glowing orange eyes seen from underneath his hood. Before another complaint could be offered, the bird thrust both hands forth, shouting, "And now we're gone!"

A pillar of flame abruptly engulfed the trio, causing the lizards to yelp in shock and quickly back away, the pillar lasting for a few moments before dissipating, leaving no traces behind of the trio, save for a handful of quickly disintegrating embers. A few tense moments passed in silence, the chief closing his eyes slightly. "Whiterune...how did you know what they were after?"

"A vision, not long after Yoshiro left us," the white-skinned dinosaur answered, closing his own eyes. "I knew they would come for that plant...and it seems I was correct."

The chief simply fell silent, slowly glancing back at the charred spot where Patamon, Amy, and the robed figure once were. Meanwhile, the first duo had found themselves dropped down rather abruptly on a familiar cold floor. "G-gah!"

The duo slowly looked up; they were right back in the medical room where Cream and the doctor were staring at them in stupefication. "Wh-...how did you..."

"Long story..." Patamon murmured somewhat tiredly, quickly holding up the plant the dinosaur had surrendered to them. "B-but we've got the herb!"

Cream's face abruptly lit up, the rabbit girl smiling widely and hopping up and down. "Y-you did it! Tails is going to be alright!"

Cheese gave off several hysterical cheers in the process as well, the doctor taking the herb from Patamon and looking it over. "Now then...if I remember correctly, the proper application is-"

His comment was rather abruptly cut off by a fierce pounding at the door, forcing everyone to look around. "Open up! This is the Twilight Society!"

Patamon gave off an alarmed squeak, shivering and looking around in a frenzy. "Wh-what do we do?!"

"Hide!" Amy responded hastily; having seemingly managed to get her movement capabilities back, she quickly dove into a cabinet at the doctor's feet, said doctor quickly pulling out a cover and pulling it over Tails to hide his appearance.

During this time, the door was finally opened up, a few soldiers entering; amongst them a rather tall and menacing-looking man covered entirely in armor, a pair of glowing red eyes peering from the helmet. "Excuse me," came the surprisingly high-pitched and child-like voice from within, giving a reverberating metallic effect. "We need to ask you a few questions."

Said doctor gave off a chuckle, closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his back; in the process enabling Patamon to open the cabinet enough to swipe the herb from his grasp. "Oh, don't worry, I know exactly why you're here."

"Good," another soldier responded, stepping forth. "In that case, we suggest you tell us what we want to know if you wish to avoid-"

"You, like several of the other good readers, probably realize the character I'm meant to reference," the doctor remarked, sliding to their side and holding up a slip of paper. "And now you want to know a little more about the role I'm fulfilling and what it's like!"

The soldiers gave a slight blink, the armored one holding up his hands and uttering, "N-...no thanks..."

"Oh come on," the doctor remarked, waggling his pen about towards them. "You know you want to."

The other soldiers slowly glanced at each other, the armored figure stepping forth and finally saying, "We have reason to believe you're harboring a fugitive here. If you comply and tell us what you know, then charges will not be pressed; a reward might even be in order."

"A fugitive?" the doctor echoed, turning around and rubbing his chin in thought. "Yes, I think I can tell you something."

Patamon and Cream's eyes shot open in anxiety as the doctor turned back around, continuing, "He's here."

Amy had went to emerge from the cabinet, but was cut off when the doctor motioned to a nearby portrait which portrayed a massive crowd of people. "Waldo is right there," the doctor continued, motioning towards a specific portion of the picture.

The armored figure slowly stepped forth, bending down to face the picture and murmuring curiously, "Really? I think I remember this page..."

"Captain Elric," one of the captains mumbled, stepping forth. "We really should get back to-"

"You have to REALLY look for 'im..." the doctor continued, him and the armored man leaning closer towards the picture in curiosity.

"Yeah...can't see him..." During this time, Amy had very slowly opened the cabinet, pulling Patamon and Cream out of it and towards the table holding Tails, hiding behind the cover he was hidden under. "Are you sure he's there?"

"Absolutely positive," the doctor responded, both soldiers glancing at each other in exasperation.

"Alphonse, we really should get to work on-"

"C'mon guys," the armored figure, Alphonse, responded, turning towards them with his helmet taking on an uncharacteristically cheery expression. "The chances that they're actually here are pretty slim."

During this time, Amy had very slowly slid Tails from underneath the table, holding the unconscious fox in her arms as Patamon stared at the herb he had gathered. "How do we administer it?" Cream whispered rather quietly.

"I...I think I know..." the smaller Digimon remarked, giving a slight smile. "Th-...that book held some pretty useful-"

"Did you hear something?" one of the soldiers mumbled, the entire room falling silent. A few more moments passed, the other soldier uttering, "Maybe it was just my imagi-"

"Wait a minute," Alphonse suddenly responded, the thunk of his metal boots heard approaching the table. "Wasn't there a heart monitor on right here? It just shut off."

A few moments passed in silence, realization suddenly dawning and causing Alphonse to gasp. "They're right he-"

His comment was suddenly interrupted by a small explosion that shrouded the entire room in smoke, causing everyone with the sole exception of Alphonse to begin coughing hoarsely. "What was that?!"

The door was abruptly knocked down, Amy leaping from it with hammer in hand. "Let's go, NOW!"

Following not soon after her was the now fully conscious Tails, the fox's eyes wide in activity as he dragged Patamon and Cream behind him, Amy grabbing onto his leg as the fox leaped into the air, spinning his namesakes about to take off into the air. Alphonse and the other soldiers dashed out as well, quickly looking about and causing one of them to grunt, "They're gone!"

"Right there!" Al shouted, pointing after the airborne group. "We have to go after them!"

**-Meanwhile-**

Within minutes, the entire table had been cleaned off, Meta Knight scooping up the rest of the plates and handing them off to several more orange-skinned servants. Dedede reclined in his seat with a rather noisy belch, patting his rather rotund and protruding middle with an equally as loud and rude laugh. "Aahh, nothing like a big ol' meal like that before ya get the recognition of your peers, eh?"

This only met with an irate scowl from both Teresa and Renji, Meta Knight glancing over at the penguin. "That reminds me, sir...we're coming close to the Army's base. I suggest we prepare to meet with the commanders."

Dedede blinked, sliding out of his chair and giving a stretch as Teresa and Renji glanced at each other with a slightly anxious response. "Good! Round up the prisoners and land this baby!"

"Yes sir," Meta Knight responded, stepping towards the trio and binding them together, shackling their hands together. "Come, your new prison awaits."

Teresa simply glared at Meta Knight as Dedede began leading them through the hallways, all the while a faint hissing being heard all throughout the airship. "We're going to be landing soon. Thank you for flying Air Dedede," a voice called from all around.

"Ugh, I sure hope the flight back is easier than the flight over here..." Don Patch uttered, now wearing a brimmed hat, glasses, and carrying two suitcases. "I'm already late for my meeting!"

The other two cast a slight glance at the orange blob, Renji muttering, "Of all the people we end up stuck with..."

They finally arrived at an even larger room that looked like a docking bay, the floor opening up to reveal a ramp. Outside was a rock flooring, Dedede leading the others outside and looking around; they were in what looked to be a mountain pass, hidden from all sides by several other peaks. A short distance away was a fairly large, dark-looking castle with a cave entrance underneath it. Dedede led the group forth a few feet, only to stop when several slim, gray-outfitted figures appeared, causing Renji to grunt lowly. "Nobodies..."

"If it isn't King Dedede." This voice abruptly gave way to a pillar of dark energy, a familiar dark-coat wearing figure with dark skin and long, gray hair. "What are you doing here? I believe we had already told you, the answer is no."

"Xemnas," Dedede responded, smirking widely and giving a small bow. "Yeah, I heard ya the first time. But this time, I've got a little something you might be interested in."

With this comment, the penguin snapped his fingers, Meta Knight pushing Don Patch, Teresa, and Renji forth. Xemnas lazily glanced at the trio, his eyes falling on Don Patch, then on Teresa for a moment before he completely passed over Renji. "And these are...?"

"Prisoners," King Dedede responded proudly, setting his hands on his hips and smirking widely once again. "The orange one's been a constant annoyance from what I've heard...the human's a high ranking member of the Lunar Guild..."

"And the girl?" Xemnas murmured rather flatly, staring at Teresa and earning a scowl in response.

King Dedede simply shrugged, murmuring, "Hey, you've got me there. She just happened to be with them, so I brought her along well."

Xemnas glanced back at Dedede with a serious expression, closing his eyes with a faint sigh. "I must commend you on a job well done..." Dedede smirked rather greedily, folding his hands together as Xemnas extended a hand, causing it to glow and resulting in two lights levitating from Don Patch's body; his Chaos Emeralds. Teresa and Renji blinked as Xemnas snatched them up, murmuring, "We've been searching for these."

"...we didn't even know they had those with them," Meta Knight remarked, glancing at Dedede in curiosity.

"Regardless, you've brought us something we want," Xemnas finished, glancing back at the imprisoned trio with a small frown. "However...I don't know what you expect to accomplish with these three...Bowser has already attempted to bribe the Essence out of the Celestial Alliance and was met with failure." Dedede's smirk abruptly deteriorated. "Now, unless you can give me a good reason why we would want these three, I suggest you leave before I put a hole through your head."

Dedede abruptly frowned in response, clenching his fists with a shiver and grunting, "They-"

"...should actually serve us well." This rather deep, reverberating voice caused Xemnas to turn around, enabling Teresa and Renji to look up; a rather tall, dark figure was approaching, wearing a black cloak that billowed behind them powerfully, a pair of glowing yellow eyes affixed on the trio. The figure seemed to exude power and command, causing nearly everyone to cringe slightly.

"Master Akumu," Xemnas remarked, giving an elaborate bow and causing Teresa to glance at Renji with wide eyes.

"This guy...is the leader of the Army of Darkness?" Teresa's question was only met with a purely stupefied expression from Renji, whose eyes trained on the figure identified as Akumu with almost fearful concentration.

_"He can't possibly be...but then...if he's the force behind the Army of Darkness..."_ Renji's train of thought was interrupted when Dedede cleared his throat.

"Hey, ah, big bad wolf." Akumu's glowing stare went to Dedede, visibly sending a chill down the penguin's spine as he cleared his throat. "Mind filling me in?"

The tall figure paused before closing their eyes, turning towards the bound trio. "It's not as much the orange one or the shinigami we want...it's the girl."

Teresa's eyes widened slightly as Xemnas glanced at Akumu, murmuring, "And why do we want them exactly, sir?"

"You can't honestly tell me you don't see the rsemblance," Akumu responded with what was interpreted as incredulousness, turning to Xemnas slightly. "She is our target's sibling. And therefore very useful."

The comment caused the entire trio - including Don Patch - to look up, Teresa fighting against her bindings and shouting, "What are you talking about?! How is Victor involved?!"

Akumu glanced back at Teresa, taking a slight step forward; simply being near the enormous and well-built lupine caused Teresa to cringe. He bent down to the dragoness, enabling her to better see his fur and muscular form. He slowly grabbed at her chin with a clawed hand, examining her face with piercing keenness. "You will learn eventually," the wolf responded, standing back up. "The world will know soon enough."

With this comment, Akumu snapped his claws together, uttering, "Xemnas, take the prisoners to the dungeon."

"Yes sir," the Nobody responded, nodding and causing several glowing whips to ensnare around the trio, bringing them out of Meta Knight's grasp and into Xemnas's.

"Thank you for your generous donation," Akumu finished with a rather refined tone, nodding to Dedede before turning around with Xemnas. The penguin's greedy smirk turned into a frown once more, and he stepped forth.

"Hey!" Akumu and Xemnas came to a stop, glancing at Dedede as he stepped forth again, shouting, "Now that I've proven myself, I can be a general in the Army, am I right?"

A few fairly awkward moments passed, Akumu and Xemnas casting each other a slight glance before turning back around. "...I don't ever remember giving you any sort of conditions for joining us."

Dedede fell silent for a moment, murmuring, "What's that supposed to-"

"No means no, King Dedede," Xemnas responded rather harshly, turning towards the penguin monarch and causing his eyes to shoot open in shock. "You may try all you like to win our favor, but you will never join our ranks. Now stop wasting your time and ours, and leave."

Several more moments passed in silence, Meta Knight glancing at the awe-struck Dedede as Xemnas turned around once more. The duo didn't get to move at all before another group dropped out of nowhere nearby; a small group clad entirely in black, with a certain gray-haired, glasses-wearing teen amongst them. "Kabuto, you have returned," Akumu remarked, glancing at the ninja as he stood up. "How was your mission?"

"I regret to inform you that I was unable to take the Chaos Emeralds," Kabuto responded with a small frown. "I was, however, able to make off with the Lunar Guild official with the fox boy."

With this comment, Kabuto extended a hand, lifting up the battered, bloody, and unconscious body of a familiar, small reindeer. "Chopper!" Renji gasped, preparing to step towards the reindeer and only causing his restraints to yank him back. "What did you do to him?!"

"He put up a good fight, but was overall completely unable to stop my jutsu and defeated," Kabuto responded, giving off a slight shrug and smirking lowly as he tossed Chopper to the ground. "The fox boy and his tubby little pet are all alone now, and should be easy pickings."

Akumu continued to stare at Kabuto, closing his eyes before giving off a sigh. "They would be...if it weren't for a little bit of interference from the Solar Faction."

Kabuto adopted a surprised expression, stepping forth slightly and uttering, "I...beg your pardon?"

"An elite squadron is already in their area," Akumu explained, turning to face Kabuto completely and narrowing his gaze. "If anything, we have even less of a chance than we did before."

Kabuto fell silent for a moment, his gaze falling slightly as Akumu turned around, closing his eyes once more. "It matters not, however. My plan is falling into place perfectly...we have the Solar and Twilight Essences, and the Lunar Essence is practically within our grasp."

Teresa and Renji's eyes widened, the shinigami shouting, "So you DID frame Victor and his team!"

"You'd be fools to think it was anyone else," Akumu responded, his gaze falling on Renji once more and causing him to recoil from the expression. "It's not a matter of knowing, however...it's a matter of proving. Even then, however, it's going to be too late."

The wolf turned about again, extending a claw about and uttering, "There is no avoiding the inevitable. We will launch a major offensive strike against the Lunar Guild tomorrow. Everything will be decided then."

Teresa gave off another grunt, shivering as her eyes trailed to the stunned Renji, the expressionless Don Patch, and the unconscious Chopper. Xemnas closed his eyes as well and slowly looked behind him at the still standing by Dedede and Meta Knight, both fallen silent and staring ahead. "What are you still doing here?" the Nobody uttered, closing his eyes. "Surely you don't hope us to randomly change our minds."

Dedede pursed his beak together, Akumu waving a hand nonchalantly after them. "I suggest you leave, your Majesty. Unless you wish to be taken prisoner as well."

The penguin only grunted lowly, turning around towards his ship and beginning to storm up it, Meta Knight looking after the ensnared trio for a moment before walking after Dedede, the airship's ramp closing up as the enormous machine lifted into the air. "As I was saying," Akumu remarked, turning towards Don Patch and the others. "Take them to the dungeon. We will decide their fate later."

"This isn't over Akumu..." Renji grunted, a black mist beginning to waft about the entire group, threatening to swallow them up.

Said wolf slowly glanced over at Renji, his expression practically unreadable with his dark coloration and the wafting streams of darkness from all around. "You're correct, shinigami. It's only the beginning."


	42. Escape and Capture

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 42-Escape and Capture

"Come on, hurry it up!" Amy quickly shouted, looking up at Tails in a panic, then over at where she noticed some of the soldiers chasing after them through the streets. "They're gaining on us!"

"Easier said than done..." the fox mumbled with a small bit of a slur, his eyes partially closed. "I feel exhausted already..."

Patamon and Cream gave off a nervous glance, the former murmuring nervously, "The medicine must be doing that..."

Tails glanced over at the orange blob at this, mumbling, "That reminds me...what exactly happened? The last thing I remember before waking up was confronting that Kabuto guy."

"W-we can discuss that later," Patamon responded, turning to their front. "Just make sure to LOOK OUT!"

Before Tails could question what the orange blob was saying, Amy let out a squeal that forced Tails to look around; they were flying straight towards Alphonse, perched on a rooftop with his arms open in preparation to grab them. "Oh no you don't!" Amy responded, abruptly yanking out her hammer. "Tails, gimme a boost!"

The fox obeyed, promptly kicking Amy towards the armored figue as she wound up a strike. Before Al could response, she had smashed the captain directly, sending him toppling backwards off of the building and plummeting to the ground below. As Amy landed, Alphonse's helmet had clattered to the ground in front of her, Tails landing with a slight pant. "Whoo...g-good one, Amy."

"Thanks," she responded, scooping up the helmet and looking into the still glowing, red eye sockets. "...where's that red light coming from?"

The hedgehog girl peered inside of the helmet; nothing. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

Once Alphonse's voice had emanated from the helmet, Amy let out a terrified squeal and abruptly chucked it after the armored body over the building, the others gawking at the display as Amy crept back. "D-did his helmet just talk?!"

All five of them peered over the side of the building - Cheese with a low "chao" - and watched as the helmet clattered next to the armored body. Which, from their point of view, lacked a head. The others' eyes widened in horror as the body stood up, even enabling them to peer into its empty inside. "I-...it's empty..." Patamon mumbled lowly.

"G-G-G-GHOST!" Amy and Cream both squealed, grabbing onto each other as Tails backed away from the edge, a rather uneasy expression on his face.

"C-...come on, I'm sure there's another reason..." he mumbled, turning towards the girls and Patamon. "We've gotta get moving now, before-"

Tails was interrupted by a rather loud crackling noise from below, everyone turning towards the area where Alphonse had dropped. A bright light and some streaks of lightning emanated from it, the others' eyes widening as the armored figure was suddenly catapulted out by a pillar of stone, the others gawking at it in shock. "H-...how did he..."

A quick flashback to the group's battles against Bowser and the Koopa Bros. enabled Tails to compare that to Edward's abilities he had demonstrated prior. Alphonse abruptly dropped back down with a resounding crash that caused the ground to crack slightly, the others stepping back slightly. Amy pulled out her hammer, grunting somewhat shakily, "D-don't come any closer!"

"H-how are we supposed to beat him?" Cream squeake,d hiding behind the older girl. "H-he's just a suit of armor!"

Alphonse gave a slight sigh, lowering his head slightly and murmuring, "Please, just come with me...I don't want to believe that you were behind the Twilight Essence's theft, but we have no evidence that says otherwise."

"And that's what we're trying to do!" Tails responded haughtily, stepping forth slightly. "We're trying to prove ourselves innocent! You've got to trust me!"

"I really wish I could..." Alphonse responded, crouching slightly in preparation for a charge. Tails grunted slightly as his gaze went down; his eyes soon taking notice of the cracks on the roof that had formed from Alphonse's rather abrupt drop. A plan soon formulated itself, the fox winding one hand behind his back and clenching it, conjuring a small, white object. "Now please, I'll only ask one more time. come with me and I'll try convincing the Twilight Monarch to go easy on you."

Tails narrowed his gaze, before finally uttering, "I don't think so." With one swift motion, he flung his hand outwards at a low angle, the white object speedily traveling through the air towards Alphonse's feet. "Chu Bomb!"

The mouse-like device immediately exploded, generating a loud cloud of smoke that forced Alphonse to cross his arms in front of him with a slight grunt; his attention, however, went to the now quickly crumbling roof, causing him to look down with a gasp. "G-gah!"

The roof abruptly fell through, taking Alphonse with it as Tails grabbed the others, backing away from the crumbling flooring. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"

"The other soldiers are gonna come running because of that explosion," Amy responded, looking around. "We should take a lower path instead of flying!"

"Good call," Tails responded, quickly pulling the others through the smoke cloud, over the hole generated from his attack, and down to the alleyway below, landing harmlessly on the ground. "Gah...c'mon, let's get moving."

The others nodded, quickly turning around; the instant they did, however, they found themselves staring at a black robed figure, a hood obscuring their face. They quickly gasped and stepped back, Patamon's eyes trailing to the figure's feet. A pair of clawed, talon-like appendages akin to bird feet. His eyes slowly widened as Tails grunted, "Other way!"

They quickly turned around to go through the other path; however, the path was just as quickly blocked by a new figure appearing seemingly out of nowhere. A teenaged boy in a black robe with short, bright orange hair and a serious scowl on his face, as well as a rather large and intimidating blade strapped to his back, wrapped up in a vast amount of cloth. "Where do you think you're going?"

The group gave a horrified expression, quickly looking back and forth between the two figures that blocked their path. Their gaze just as quickly went towards the wall of the building they were just fighting on, where several crackles and a bright light came forth before the wall abruptly turned into a stone door. Said door was just as quickly opened, revealing Alphonse on the other side with a slight pant. "Whew...guess I'm lucky that place didn't have anyone living inside..."

"W-we're trapped!" Cream squealed in a panic, crouching down and grabbing onto Cheese with a terrified expression.

Tails and Amy gave a slight grunt, Alphonse's eyes trailing towards the teen and robed figure. His gaze went towards the teen, stammering, "O-oh! Commander Kurosaki! I didn't know the Solar Faction was here!"

"Yeah," the teen responded, giving a nod. "Go tell your men that we've captured them, we'll handle things from here."

Alphonse gave a quick nod, beginning to rush off as Tails turned to face the orange-haired teen directly, frowning. "Don't think we're going to go down without a-"

"W-wait a minute," Patamon quickly stammered, turning towards the hooded figure. "D-didn't you just help me and Amy get the herb that saved Tails' life?"

A small pause ensued, Tails and Amy glancing from Patamon to the hooded figure. "...wha? What are you talking about?" the fox mumbled in curiosity.

This comment turned the teen's expression from one of seriousness to one of rather comical annoyance. "...Saceri, I thought I said to keep a low profile!"

"I-I did!" the hooded figure, Saceri, responded, quickly holding up his orange feathered hands in a panicked defense. "I kept my hood on the entire time!"

"I didn't expect you to go and actually appear to them! I thought you were going to stay in the shadows!"

"I-I had a good reason! If I hadn't have intervened they'd have been killed by the Yoshi tribe!"

Before the argument could get any further, Tails rather noisily cleared his throat, turning to the arguing soldiers. "Can someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here?!"

The orange-haired teen gave a sigh and rubbed his head over, mumbling, "Alright, alright...not here, though. Saceri, take them to a hidden place while I keep the Twilight Society busy."

"Yes sir," the hooded figure responded, waving a hand towards Tails and the others. "Come, we've got a lot to discuss."

With this comment, he began leading them away, Amy and Cream giving each other a momentary glance before following along with Tails and Patamon.

**-Meanwhile-**

After being led through several different hallways, Don Patch, Teresa, and Renji finally arrived in what appeared to be some sort of dungeon, Xemnas leading them towards one particular prison cell before stopping and pressing his hand against the wall next to it. The bars vanished, the trio being thrown inside before Chopper was tossed rather uncremoniously towards their feet. Don Patch went to charge towards the nonexistant bars, only for Xemnas to retract his hand; the moment he did so, the bars were recreated, leaving Don Patch to smash into them face-first, slouching down with a groan. "Make yourself comfortable, you're going to be here for a while," Xemnas uttered, turning around. "Consider yourselves lucky that you won't have to go through the pain of watching the Lunar Guild be crushed first hand."

Renji and Teresa only growled at Xemnas as he walked off, leaving them alone for several moment before the shinigami stood up, their bindings vanishing. "So," Teresa began, standing up and rubbing her wrists over. "Any ideas for how we'll escape?"

Renji didn't respond, instead approaching the bars and feeling them over, Don Patch slowly standing up and rubbing his face over. "How's Chopper?" he asked bluntly, Teresa blinking before kneeling at the reindeer's sides. This was met with several hoarse coughs from said cervine, his eyes very slowly opening.

"U-...uh...what..." Renji turned towards Chopper as his eyes slowly opened fully, blinking a few times before being rubbed by his hooves. "Wh-where am I?"

"Prison cell in the Army of Darkness's headquarters," Renji responded; the shinigami's voice caused Chopper's eyes to shoot open, quickly scampering to his feet and turning towards his cohort.

"R-Renji?!" he stammered, quickly whirling around to Teresa and Don Patch. "Wh-what am I doing here?!"

"I thought you'd answer that for us," Teresa responded, folding her arms. "When we arrived you were being carried by this gray-haired freak with glasses."

Chopper's eyes widened again, this time with fury. "Kabuto...he must've captured me..." His expression turned back to one of anxiety, quickly turning around. "W-wait, then where're Tails and Patamon?!"

"I'm right here, captain!" came Don Patch's response. Chopper turned towards him, fully ready to give him a response, only to see that the orange blob was wearing a pair of fox ears on his head, completely with similar gloves, sneakers, and a pair of taped on tails to emulate his teammate's appearance. Poorly.

"K-Kabuto captured you too?" Chopper mumbled in shock. Apparently not poorly enough.

Renji gave an irate expression and yanked Don Patch's disguise off, mumbling, "We don't have time to mess around." He turned to the rather confused Chopper, who was staring at Don Patch as if he had taken on a completely different appearance. "So you're saying that Tails is wandering about on the border of Twilight Plains all by himself?"

"Not by himself," Chopper responded, turning towards Renji. "With some little guy he became friends with after the siege. But...yeah, pretty much." He looked over the trio, and finally asked, "What are you doing here? How did the Army capture you?"

Teresa gave a rather irritated sigh, rubbing her face over. "The Army didn't capture us...it was this deluded penguin that forked us over with the intention of using us as bargaining chips to get into the Army of Darkness."

"It didn't work, and they turned him away," Renji mumbled, folding his arms. "But that's not the part I'm most concerned about."

"It's not?" Don Patch remarked curiously, turning towards Renji in curiosity.

The shinigami shook his head, Teresa furrowing her brow. "Then...what is?"

"That guy Xemnas claimed was in charge of the Army of Darkness," he answered, turning towards Chopper. "Akumu."

The name caused Chopper's already nervous expression to revert to one of pure horror, moreso than the ones he had adopted before. "A-...Akumu?! Y-you're joking, right? RIGHT?!"

"No," Renji responded, shaking his head grimly. "Fit the description to the tee."

Chopper began giving off a few anxious squeaks, panting heavily and sitting back as Teresa looked between the two captains with a mixture of curiosity and slowly surfacing anxiety. "Who...is this Akumu guy? How do you two know him?"

"He...he's supposed to be dead...how can he possibly be alive?!" Chopper stammered, looking up with a panicked expression. "It doesn't make any sense!"

Renji closed his eyes and turned towards Teresa, finally responding, "Akumu...was the former Twilight Monarch."

**-Meanwhile-**

Victor now sat inside of a rather blank stone room, filled with nothing but a lightbulb hanging above him, a table and two seats, with a rather sturdy looking door and tinted window on the walls. It was, by all appearances, an interrogation room. Finally, the door opened and Edward stepped inside, closing it back and turning towards Victor. "You know why you're here, right?"

Victor didn't give a response, keeping his serious and hateful glare on Edward as he stepped towards the dragon; his arms were bound behind him, preventing any attacks. After a few moments of not responding, Edward folded his arms and turned towards Victor. "I'll reiterate the conditions of your surrender in case you forgot. If you tell us where the Twilight Essence is, then we'll only give you a life sentence as opposed to execution. Now tell us what we want to know."

A few more moments passed in silence, Edward's frown deepening when Victor didn't respond. "...I'm asking you a question, and I would really appreciate it if you'd-"

"For the last time," the dragon finally responded, his voice low and coated with hate. "I don't have the Twilight Essence. You have the wrong guy. And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can get around to finding the one truly responsible."

Edward remained silent for a few moments before folding his arms behind him. "You're not in a situation to claim innocence. We have a mountain of evidence that points towards you and your team."

"I don't care if you were there in person and saw it yourself. I. DID. NOT. DO. IT." Victor's voice had gotten slightly louder during this time, a vein popping from his head as his rage began peaking once more.

Edward promptly slammed his hands on the table in between the duo, shouting, "Victor, listen to me! You've done the Celestial Alliance a lot of good before now, chasing off some of the Army's commanders and even being a key factor in helping us reclaim the Solar Mountain Range! Now at the very least, I want your reason for suddenly turning on us like that!"

Victor's rage momentaruly subsided, but, as he spoke, it bean rising once more. "I don't have a reason for turning against the Celestial Alliance, because I never did. Now quit trying to act like I have and trying to get an answer out of me, because you're NEVER going to get one."

A few more tense moments passed in silence, Edward leaning away and giving a heavy sigh, closing his eyes. "So...even while your head is on the chopping block, a blade at your neck and preparing to end everything you know, you'd still deny any involvement."

"Do you have wax in your ears?" Victor responded with a rather enraged roar, leaning up from his seat angrily. "I DIDN'T TAKE YOUR FUCKING ESSENCE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!"

This actually prompted Edward to lunge forth, pinning Victor to the wall and generating an arm blade right at his neck. "How about we test that theory then?" the boy uttered venomously, the duo staring at each other with matching glares that caused the air between them to seemingly spark.

"Go ahead and try it," Victor uttered quietly, narrowing his gaze. "Kill me. With my last breath I'm going to deny involvement. And when you finally learn the truth, the guilt is going to eat you alive. And even in the afterlife - if there even IS one - I'm not going to pity you AT ALL. I'll even wish for all those that've accused me and my team to have the same guilt you'll have, because the lot of you deserved it."

Several more moments passed in silence, Edward grunting lowly and causing his arms to tremble slightly. Finally, he let go of Victor and turned away with a serious expression, the dragon only smirking slightly. "I knew it. You weren't really going to go through with it, you weak little bastard."

During this time, the door had opened up, several more soldiers had entered, grabbing a hold of Victor and beginning to drag him out. On the other side of the glass, Gaara, L, and a few other soldiers sat, the former closing his eyes. "So...it seems we have an execution on our hands. I'll let Silver know."

With this comment, Gaara stood up, beginning to walk off as L continued to stare at the window, his eyes trained on Edward as the boy walked back out. "How queer..." the man uttered, finally standing up and beginning to shuffle out of the room.


	43. Execution

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 43-Execution

Teresa's eyes shot open upon Renji's revelation, her jaw hanging open slightly. "...the...former...Twilight Monarch...?"

The shinigami nodded as Chopper's gaze fell, the reindeer beginning to explain. "When the Twilight Society and Solar Faction were dragged into a war...when the Twilight Society was accused with practicing dark magic...Akumu was at the root of it all."

"He was discovered with many tomes of evil magic in his office at one point and was promptly chased from the Castle," Renji continued, folding his arms with a serious expression. "He was believed to have been killed afterwards...seems like he wasn't dead after all."

Teresa gave a slow nod, Don Patch abruptly adopting a serious expression. "I see...it is obvious what we must do then. We have little other choice."

The others slowly glanced at the orange blob, who promptly reached behind him and pulled out a large wooden stand, upon which was a large pitcher of a yellow liquid. "We must start a lemonade stand! Only then will we be able to get the funds to get out of here!"

The trio stared back at Don Patch with a disbelieving expression, Renji turning away and closing his eyes. "There's something else about Akumu being behind the Army of Darkness that makes me uncomfortable..."

Teresa slowly glanced back at the shinigami, blinking and murmuring, "What's...that?"

"Well...I could explain, but-"

"No, no, what's that?" she cut off, stepping towards Renji and ripping something from his rear.

"H-hey, watch where you're grabbing!" he growled with a shout, turning around to Teresa. "What're you..." He trailed off when Teresa held up a small gold-colored object. "...what IS that?"

The dragoness looked it over, Chopper inching towards Teresa and tilting his head to the side. "...hey, you got one too!" Chopper reached at Teresa's tail and pried off a similar-looking badge, staring at it; the group quickly noticed its similarity with a certain figure.

"...it looks like Dedede..." Teresa murmured. Renji furrowed his brow and glanced at the badge as well; indeed, it had the uncanny resemblance of the penguin monarch.

"Yeah...it does! You think he put these on us when he captured us earlier?" he asked, Don Patch now removing a similar badge from his person in curiosity.

"The question is, why?" Teresa responded, furrowing her brow slightly. "Ya think they do something specific?"

Before the group could meditate much further on the subject, Chopper's ears perked slightly and he turned towards one of the walls. "...y-you guys hear that...?"

Renji and Teresa turned towards said wall, the former murmuring, "I think so..."

Don Patch abruptly hopped forth and planted his face against the wall, revealing a stethoscope and pressing one end against the wall. A contemplative expression passed his face before he responded, "WE'RE LOSING 'IM! HAND ME THE SHOCK PADDLES!"

With this comment, the orange blob reached behind him and pulled out what appeared to be two rowboat paddles. Chopper lifted a hand, mumbling, "Don Patch...those aren't..."

"STROKE! STROKE! STROKE! STROKE!" Don Patch screamed, now attempting to ride a kayak up the wall and waving the oars about frantically while the others spectated blankly.

"I don't see how Victor puts up with him..." Teresa mumbled lowly, giving a sigh before looking up again; Chopper was now attempting to pull Don Patch's kayak down from the wall.

"You don't have any water for that! Come down here!" the reindeer squeaked, Renji glancing at Teresa with an unimpressed expression.

"I don't see how I put up with him," he remarked, only to be interrupted by a more audible rumbling sound. Renji and Teresa turned towards the wall, only to watch it seemingly explode, sending Don Patch and Chopper flying backwards into the bars with a crash while several chunks of debris flew past them. "The hell?!"

From the resulting dust cloud came an audible thumping followed by a familiar large, robed figure stepping through. A smirk crossed his beak as the large penguin shouted, "Did someone ask for a timely rescue?!"

"Dedede!" Teresa gasped, watching as the cloud finally dissipated, Meta Knight stepping forth from behind the monarch. "What are you doing here?"

King Dedede simply gave off another cocky smirk, shifting about the weight of a rather massive wooden mallet now perched on his shoulder; Teresa and Renji couldn't help but gawk at the oversized weapon for a moment, thinking that neither of them would be able to so much as carry it. "Weeeeeelllllll, funny story 'bout that. See, when the Army of Darkness turned me down, that was the last straw! I wasn't going to take such an embarrassment lying down, so I decided to do what I do best; stir up trouble! And what better way to do that then to free some dangerous prisoners?"

Renji cleared his throat at this, turning away and mumbling, "I could think of a few other things you could've done to have gotten in their way even more..."

"HEY! Do you wanna be rescued or not?!" the penguin barked angrily, Renji shrinking back with a sigh.

"How did you even find us anyway?" Chopper remarked in confusion, Meta Knight turning to the reindeer. He reached onto the ground and pulled out one of the gold badges they had been examining earlier, turning it about in his gloved hand.

"King Dedede attached a tracker to each of them after capturing them," the masked figure explained, Renji blinking in surprise.

"You mean...you had us tagged this entire time?!" Renji's irritated expression was only met with another hearty laugh from Dedede, who smacked Renji on his back, promptly flooring the smaller human.

"Grahahaha! You should be thanking me, I'd have never found you otherwise!" the penguin responded, only earning a sigh and shake of the head from Teresa.

"I guess you've got a point..." She slowly looked back up, murmuring, "Anyway, we should probably get to escaping then."

"Right!" Dedede remarked, toddling over to the bars and waving a hand nonchalantly towards the others. "Stand back, these things are coming down!"

Renji and Teresa's eyes slowly went towards the already shattered wall, blinking before the former mumbled, "Um...we could just take the-"

Renji was cut off with a barbaric roar from Dedede, who abruptly slammed his hammer into the bars of the cage. However, the metal bars did not budge at all, the only result being a rather dull thunking sound followed by Dedede staggering backwards from the repulsion of force. "G-gah?! The hell was that?!"

The others slowly approached the bars, peering at them closely; it was obvious they weren't made of normal metal, instead looking to have been created from an unusual jet black rock that had an almost ethereal tint to it. "What is this stuff...?" Teresa uttered lowly, Meta Knight promptly summoning a rather intimidating golden blade with a series of jagged spikes along the edges.

The small figure began slashing with a speedy, almost blinding motion at the bars. However, each strike produced only the same dull thunking sound, not even any sparks being produced. After a few moments of this, Meta Knight retracted his blade, uttering, "This is truly no ordinary material."

"Well we can discuss it later," Renji responded bluntly, stepping towards the hole generated by Dedede. "Right now, let's focus on getting out of here!"

The shinigami scooped up Don Patch and began dashing through the opening, Chopper scampering along behind them in Walk Point. "Hey! Wait for us!" Dedede barked, Meta Knight dashing after them and forcing the oversized penguin to waddle tiresomely after them.

Teresa, on the other hand, contineud to stare blankly at the bars with a curious expression, seemingly mesmerized by the unusual qualities of the bars. "Hm...what could they possibly be...?"

"Teresa! Get moving!" Renji's voice called from the cavern.

"Alright, alright!" she responded rather sharply, turning towards the exit; she was, however, just as quickly cut off when a figure grabbed her from behind, covering up her mouth to prevent any sounds, only a muffled grunt being heard. Teresa's gaze went to glance at her captor, only noticing a scarred, yellow eye staring down at her.

"You'll be useful to us," the figure uttered in a low, droning tone, abruptly vanishing and leaving nothing behind but a small whirlwind.

**-Meanwhile-**

Within several minutes, Saceri managed to lead Tails and the others towards another building, slipping inside and glancing around at the abandoned interior. "...we should be safe in here."

"Another abandoned building?" Amy remarked in curiosity, looking around. "Geez, I didn't know this town had so many!"

"Yeah, I dunno," Saceri responded with an absent-minded shrug, turning towards the group and pulling off his hood. Underneath was, as expected, an avian's face, covered in bright orange feathers with a crest of darker orange feathers sticking from his forehead. A curved beak was in the place of his mouth.

"Alright, so...please, explain to me what happened while I was out of it?" Tails asked, turning towards Amy and Cream. "What're you two doing here?"

Amy folded her arms in response, and responded rather bluntly, "We were on vacation, alright? We just so happened to find you and your little friend passed out on the boat heading from the island!"

Tails slowly glanced at Patamon, whose gaze fell to the ground with a nervous expression. "We...had to escape and...left Chopper behind..."

The fox's own expression fell, Saceri clearing his throat and prompting the others to look up at him. "In order to save your life, they required a special herb that I was able to assist them in finding."

"Who ARE you anyway?" Amy asked, stepping towards the bird and setting her hand son her hips with an unimpressed stare. "What happened back there?"

"Allow me to explain." This new voice came from behind, forcing everyone to turn around and watch as the orange-haired teen from before appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The others yelped in shock as the teen extended a hand, murmuring, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. I'm the head commander of the Solar Faction, second in command only to the Solar Master himself. Seeing as he's missing, though..."

"I see..." Tails murmured, looking down for a moment before glancing back up. "I think I remember Chopper mentioning that Kokira and her team were helping prove us innocent..."

The teen, Ichigo, nodded in response. "You've got the entirety of the Solar Faction on your side, don't worry."

Tails gave off another small sigh, rubbing the back of his head and looking away. "I wish that cheered me up as much as it should...but with Chopper in the Army's hands..."

"He should be fine," Ichigo responded, sighing and waving a hand about. "He isn't one of the highest ranking captains in the Lunar Guild for no good reason."

The fox fell silent for a moment longer, nodding and slowly looking back up. "Well...I suppose you've got a point..."

"Then who're you?" Amy asked, turning towards Saceri with a frown. "Some other member of the Solar Faction?"

Saceri nodded in response, Ichigo casting the bid a glance. "Saceri is one of our higher ranking officials at the Solar Faction. He was originally charged with watching over you guys from a distance...but it looks like he botched that one up."

The teen cast an accusatory glance at Saceri, who shrunk back from his place with a slight wince. "Well...I suppose I owe you two a lot of thanks," Tails responded with a nod. "If it hadn't have been for you...I wouldn't've made it, and then we'd've been captured by the Twilight Society."

The others gave a nod, Patamon glancing at Tails. "Y-ya think they can help us with regrouping with the rest of your team?"

This comment caused Ichigo's serious expression to turn grim, the human clearing his throat. "Yeah, uh...about that..."

The others slowly glanced back at him, Cream murmuring anxiously, "What is it? D-did something happen...?"

Ichigo and Saceri cast each other a nervous glance, the bird producing a crystal from his robe and holding it forth. "Perhaps...you should just see for yourself..."

The crystal gave off a bright light before beginning to generate a few images; among them the image of the Twilight Castle. "What's this?" Tails murmured curiously.

"A recorded news report," Ichigo answered lowly. "According to it...Victor and Kokira's team've been arrested by the Twilight Society."

This comment caused Tails' eyes to shoot open, his jaw hanging open slightly. "Wh-...what?!"

The image in the crystal swapped to the aforementioned group, showing the image of Victor, Yoshiro, and Kokira's team. "That's Sonic!" Amy abruptly shouted, pushing her way to get a look at the crystal. "You mean he's been captured too?!"

"That's not the worst of it," Ichigo responded with a serious expression. "For failure to comply and tell the Twilight Society where the Essence is...Victor's to be executed tomorrow."

**-Meanwhile-**

Several minutes of wandering the destroyed hallways of the Army's base had caused Renji to whistle lowly. "Geez...how'd you manage to get through here without attracting any attention?"

"Who said we didn't?" Dedede responded as-a-matter-of-factly, the group passing over an area with several unconscious fgures collapsed all over the ground.

"Er...right..." Chopper mumbled lowly, sighing and looking behind them. He slowly wandered to a stop, looking around with a shocked expression. "...wait, where did Teresa go?"

Everyone stopped at this, eyes scanning their surroundings and quickly noticing that the dragoness was indeed missing. "Teresa? Teresa!" Renji shouted, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Where are you?!"

"She must've wandered away from us," Meta Knight responded bluntly, closing his eyes. "But we haven't the time to go back and find her. Right now we need to focus on getting out of here, the Army is well aware of our infiltration into their base."

The group cast a slight glance, Chopper sighing lowly and hanging his head. "Well...alright...Victor's not going to like this when we tell him, though..."

"He won't get the chance to know." This new voice caused everyone to jump slightly, slowly looking around to the source of the voice. A rather tall, dark-skinned figure stood a short distance away, wearing a long black coat, a white sash around his waist over gray pants. A rather complex tattoo was plastered over his exposed, well built chest. "Not after what has recently transpired."

The others took a slight step back, entering a defensive stance and causing Chopper to mumble, "Wait...you're one of...Crocodile's men..."

"Daz Bones," the tall figure responded, retaining a serious expression. "I'm here to prevent your escape."

Dedede, however, smirked with a low chuckle, murmuring lowly, "Hehe...you have no idea what you're up against, big guy. Now step aside before I-"

"Wait, what're you talking about, he won't get the chance?" Don Patch responded, stepping forth with a defiant expression. "As the main character, I am personally taking it upon myself to let my sidekick know what happened to his girlfriend!"

"Teresa's his sister," Renji uttered flatly, hanging his head with a sigh.

Daz Bones, on the other hand, stared at Don Patch with a glare. "The dragon Victor and his comrades have been captured by the Twilight Society." Chopper and Renji's eyes widened as the tall human continued, "He's going to be executed tomorrow for refusing to tell them the location of the Twilight Essence."

"N-...no..." Chopper murmured lowly, giving a tremble. "Th-...that can't be right..."

Renji abruptly gripped his sword and held it forth, uttering, "I guess we're strapped for time now. Come on guys, let's get out of here! Now that we know what REALLY happened..."

"I don't think so," Daz Bones responded, crouching ever so slightly and narrowing his gaze. "I've been tasked with preventing your escape. And I will follow my command."

A tense silence followed, Meta Knight slowly glancing at Dedede. "Your commands...?"

The penguin simply smirked, shifting about the hammer on his shoulder once more. "Heh. Getting to thrash about one off the Army's cronies ought to be fun, AND an extra spit in the face." Dedede shifted about his grip to hold his hammer in both hands, stepping forth slightly as the others stepped forth alongside him. "Now you're about to see what a mistake it was to turn away King Dedede!"


	44. Complications

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 44-Complications

"T-tomorrow?!" Tails' worried expression was now replaced with one of sheer horror, Ichigo nodding grimly. "A-are you telling me we have less than 24 hours to find a way to prove ourselves innocent?!"

"No," Saceri responded, eyes trailing to the vulpine. "You have less than 24 hours to rescue Victor and those imprisoned alongside him. You're already being hunted for the most serious crime ever commited under the Celestial Alliance's rule, anything after this is nothing."

Tails turned away from the bird, grabbing a hold of his face and uttering, "Don't remind me..."

"How do you expect us to rescue this dragon guy anyway?" Amy asked haughtily, folding her arms and tapping a foot impatiently on the ground. "Even WITH your help, all eyes are going to be there!"

Before Saceri could respond, Ichigo cut him off, murmuring, "First off, we're not going to help you. The Solar Faction is helping you in secret, and we can't drop that guise unless we want another civil war to break out."

Patamon looked down with a rather noticeable wince, uttering. "I...I see your point..."

"Wh-what about Don Patch?" Tails stammered, quickly looking up. "Is he going to be there for us?"

"We haven't been able to get a hold of Victor's sister or the captain assisting them," Saceri responded, his eyes trailing downwards.

"And while I trust Renji, the fact that he isn't even responding leaves me to believe they've got an issue on their hands as well," Ichigo added, folding his arms. "As far as we know, you guys are on your own."

All four adopted a rather frightened glance, Tails giving an anxious gulp. "O-...oh..." The fox slowly turned away from the group, gripping his head with a wince. "This...this can't be happening..."

Amy and Cream slowly glanced after Tails, Saceri clearing his throat and murmuring, "We're going to take you to Twilight Plains, and from there you'd have to break into the Twilight Castle and get Victor and the others out."

"You say that like it's so simple!" Tails responded in a surprisingly irritated and loud fashion, causing the others to blink and stare at the fox in surprise. A few moments passed in silence and Tails' expression deteriorated to anxiety once more, the vulpine slinking into a sitting position and groaning, grabbing his face once more. "G-gah...I'm sorry...normally I wouldn't be so wound up, b-but...usually I have Sonic by my side for this..."

The others exchanged a slight glance, Amy stepping towards Tails and bending down on one knee to him. "Tails, I'm just as nervous about this as you are. Especially since we don't have Sonic with us at the moment. But I'm not letting that stop us from stopping that execution!"

"You only say that because Sonic's there under imprisonment," Tails mumbled flatly, glancing at her with an unimpressed tone.

This, however, only prompted the female hedgehog to set her hands on her hips, bending down to him and saying in a rather scolding fashion, "Well what's YOUR excuse for showing hesitation in saving your best friend? I'd think you'd be even more intent on stopping that execution since they have one of your teammates there!"

Tails fell silent for several moments, looking down now with a rather embarrassed expression; she posed a VERY good point. "T-Tails..." Patamon murmured lowly, crawling towards the fox and looking up at him with a nervous expression. "When those pirates came and attacked my village...I had lost practically all hope...I was just as scared and willing to admit defeat...b-but then you came and beat them single-handedly...I-I was inspired."

"That was because Chopper came at the last second!" Tails responded rather alarmingly, looking up with a shocked expression. "I don't have him, or Sonic right now!"

"But you have us," Patamon responded, grabbing a hold of Tails' hand and looking up at him pleadingly. "I-I know we're not as useful as your captain, or this Sonic guy...b-but at least we're here to help!"

Tails once again fell silent in thought, looking down steadily and sighing lowly. "I'm...I'm sorry, I'm grateful for your help, but...I'm still so scared...I want to...but I can't work up the nerve..."

"But...you can," Cream responded lowly, earning a glance from the fox. "Courage is just the ability to face a challenge despite being afraid...I know you can do it, you've done it before."

The fox gave off a surprised blink, seemingly becoming lost in thought for several moments. His gaze began trailing downwards, Patamon, Amy, and Cream leaning towards him expectantly. Finally, Tails' thoughtful expression turned serious, and he glanced up, now looking at Ichigo. "Mr. Kurosaki...can you please take us to Twilight Plains? I have two friends I need to save."

The trio's expressions lit up as Ichigo gave off a smirk, closing his eyes. "Hmph...but of course. You'll have to be in disguise, first. Can't get on the zeppelin without the right credentials."

"Fortunately for you," Saceri remarked, reaching into his robe and pulling forth several cards. "Our head of intelligence has given us several different fake IDs for you to use."

"Th-thank you," Tails quickly responded with a small nod, Ichigo looking them over.

"Now we just need some robes for you to obscure your appearance with," Ichigo murmured, glancing down at Patamon for a moment and pausing. "...I don't think we have one small enough for you."

Said Digimon gave a small blink, looking around. "Well...don't we have another way of doing so?"

Another few moments passed in silence, Tails looking around slightly. "...I think I have an idea."

Several minutes later, the door to the abandoned building slowly opened up, a robed Saceri and Ichigo stepping out. The duo glanced at the door as three small, robed figures stepped out; Tails, Amy, and Cream. However, the former's robe looked a bit bulkier around the middle, the fox using his arms to cup underneath it and causing the bulge to wiggle about slightly. "Patamon, stop squirming..." the fox mumbled, looking down with a small frown.

"Sorry, sorry...it's a little stuffy in here," his voice emanated from the bulge underneath the robe. "Gonna try and get myself comfy if I'm gonna stay down here for a long ti-...oh. That's better..."

Tails blinked as the bulge shifted about for a moment longer before finally becoming motionless, the others staring at the robed Tails for a moment. "...you sure you won't gather suspicion looking like that?" Amy murmured flatly, frowning lowly.

"Sure," Tails responded with a small nod. "It'll be more convincing if I keep a snack on me at all times." All four stared at Tails with a rather unimpressed stare, the fox giving a small frown. "Look, it's either this or the dog carrier, and he already said he didn't want that!"

"Alright, alright..." Ichigo mumbled, turning away with a small sigh. "Come on, the zeppelin is going to be leaving soon."

**-Meanwhile-**

"ALRIIIIIIGHT! Time to rock an' roll!" Don Patch shouted, abruptly lunging towards Daz Bones with a frantic expression. "Have a taste of my Don Patch Headbutt!"

The orange blob lunged forward, head down, and attempted to tackle Daz bones, however, the man easily stepped back and grabbed a hold of Don Patch, tossing him forth and right over King Dedede's shoulder. "Tch, leave this guy to me!" King Dedede shouted, beginning to charge forward, raising his hammer high over his head. "I'll crush you like a bug!"

The penguin abruptly slung his hammer downwards onto Bones, however, the man managed to swiftly step to the side as the weapon impacted with a powerful thud, generating several large cracks and overturning a few rocks in the process. Dedede blinked slightly as Daz Bones slung a fist into the penguin's face, sending the rather large monarch flying backwards at a high speed, forcing Chopper to quickly duck under the avian as he flew over. Dedede toppled to a rather noisy and cumbersome halt, looking up with a small groan as his eyes visibly span about. "Meta Knight...slice him to ribbons!"

"Yes sir," the small figure responded, pulling forth his spiked blade and lunging at Daz Bones, his cape seemingly transforming into a pair of wings to catapult him forth. "Drill Rush!"

With his blade pointed forward, Meta Knight began spinning about like a drill, turning into a whirling cone of wind that forced Daz Bones to straighten his body out, narrowing his gaze slightly. "Spider."

Suddenly, the man's body gave off a somewhat bright luster, the others blinking as Meta Knight's attack landed; however, the attack didn't even pierce the skin, doing little more than generating a large spray of sparks and an ear-piercing, metallic shredding sound. Renji and Chopper covered their ears in irritation as Bones continued to stare at Meta Knight stoically. Finally, the small figure leaped away, spinning about before skidding to a halt, looking up at Daz Bones with a curious look in his eyes. "Hm...?"

"His attack didn't harm him at all," Renji uttered, giving a surprised blink. "How...?"

The luster Bones' body had taken vanished, the man holding up both hands and opening his palms up. "This is the power of my Devil Fruit. The Supa Supa no Mi."

"Devil Fruit," Renji echoed, his eyes trailing to the anxious-looking Chopper for a moment. "Just like him..."

"With it, I can transform any part of my body into a steel blade," Bones continued, the insides of his fingers and palms suddenly glowing before sprouting a razor-sharp blade on the insides of his fingers. "I am impervious to damage, and can slice up anything in my path."

Meta Knight gave off a slight grunt, Don Patch abruptly leaping forth with a gasp. "Oh my! You're indestructible?! Amazing!"

The orange blob skidded to a halt in front of Bones, waggling a finger about with a confident expression. "But you're not the only supa-hero around here! I too am completely indestructible!"

Don Patch abruptly placed his hands on his nonexistant hips and turned away, now having a bright red cape billowing behind him, a rather slick and shiny-looking black wig on his head and an "H" plastered on his chest. "I am...Hajike Man! Spreading the wonderful and magical power of Hajike through the entire world!"

Renji and Meta Knight both gave a slight sweatdrop as Daz Bones crossed his arms in front of him, palms facing towards the group. "Atomic Spar!" Daz Bones abruptly swiped downwards with both hands, slicing at Don Patch and sending him flying backwards with a loud shout, slamming into the currently sitting up King Dedede and knocking them both over rather painfully. Even the ground itself was cut up slightly from his attack, the other three glancing back at Bones with a surprised expression. "You're next. Atomic Spurt!"

Suddenly, the bottom of Bones' feet transformed into blades, enabling him to shoot forward with a skating motion in preparation to slash at the others. Renji quickly stepped into the way and blocked Bones' strike, causing them both to skid backwards past Chopper and Meta Knight. "Renji!" the reindeer squeaked in shock.

Said shinigami gave off a slight grunt as he forced Bones back, the man skidding to a halt as the blades vanished from his feet. Renji looked up with a small grunt, murmuring, "Hm...not a lot of room here, but I guess I don't have much choice at the moment..." With this comment, Renji wound his blade-wielding arm back, placing his palm against the hilt of his weapon. "Alright Bones, you're not the only one with a skill or two up their sleeve."

Chopper blinked slightly as Renji's blade began glowing brightly, Bones furrowing his brow in curiosity. "Hm...?"

"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji shouted, suddenly swiping his hand along the side of his blade. The light abruptly shifted to another form, turning into a longer, wider blade seemingly split into six different segments, each wider than the other. A pick-like protrusion was attached to each segment, sticking from the side. The group gave off a slight blink as Renji gripped onto his weapon, murmuring, "Impressed by my Shikai?"

"His sword transformed," Bones uttered rather blankly, narrowing his gaze slightly.

"This is no ordinary sword," Renji responded, crouching slightly with another smirk. "This is my zanpakuto, the weapon of choice for every shinigami. While it may look like a normal blade, it is actually an extension of its wielder's spirit, making it so much more useful than any old sword. If its wielder is skilled enough, then the sword is able to transform into another form known as the Shikai with a special ability based off of the wielder's personality. This is my zanpakuto, Zabimaru's Shikai form."

Daz Bones closed his eyes in response, giving a small chuckle before looking back up, opening up his palms once again. "I see. The ability for your sword to use a stronger ability won't win you this battle, however. I am undefeatable."

"We'll see about that!" Renji shouted, winding up his arm and flinging it forth. The segments of his blade abruptly opened up, revealing a powerful-looking thread in between them that began stretching, causing the bladed segments to fly towards Bones. The man gave a slight blink and barely managed to knock the incoming segment away with his bladed hand, causing it to smash into one of the walls before being retracted by Renji. "Zabimaru's segments are connected by a tough, stretchable thread that make it very useful as a ranged weapon!"

Meta Knight seemed to give off a blink of realization as Daz Bones narrowed his gaze, crossing his arms once again. "So you can attack from long range...so can I. Spar Break!"

With a powerful swing, Daz bones flung his arms outwards, causing several blades of energy to fly from his arms, forcing Renji, Chopper, and Meta Knight to duck, the attack sailing over their heads. King Dedede, who had been behind them, quickly held up Don Patch, the orange blob being smashed by the attack instead and causing him to howl in pain and squirm about. "He is correct. We cannot defeat him," Meta Knight uttered, earning a glance from Chopper and Renji.

"Then what do you propose we do?" Renji asked rather haughtily, looking up as Daz Bones began approaching once more.

"We escape," Meta Knight responded, his eyes turning towards Daz Bones once more. "It's true that he is as hard and sharp as a blade...however, he's also just as mobile. He can't move whatever body part is changed into a blade."

Renji and Chopper both gave off a surprised blink, the latter uttering, "Y-you're saying we should...get him to turn his entire body into a blade so that he can't move and we can escape? How do we do that?"

"First off...we'll need to force him to shield his entire body," Meta Knight answered, slowly standing up and holding up his blade once more. "Shinigami. We need to force him into a fully defensive position."

Renji nodded slowly and stood up as well, gripping his blade as he and Meta Knight stepped forth. "Got it."

Daz Bones finally came to a stop, Meta Knight extending a pair of wings once more and shooting towards Daz Bones, blade at the ready. "Mach Tornado!"

Meta Knight abruptly began spinning about, this time turning into a whirling, orange-tinted tornado that forced Bones to come to a halt, crossing his blade-like arms in front of him to block the assault. Renji leaped over Meta Knight in response, smirking and lifting his sword over his head. "Up here!"

Bones looked up as Renji slung his blade downwards, his segments extending once again, the bladed portions streaking towards him. He grunted lowly, finally uttering, "Spider!"

With this command, Daz Bones' entire body gave off a bright luster, Renji's blade smashing onto his shoulder and impacting with a resounding clang as the weapon bounced right off. "Now!"

Chopper abruptly kicked off of the ground, shifting to his Walk Point and preparing to dash past Daz Bones. The man blinked for a moment before abruptly shouting, "Spar Break!"

Meta Knight had little time to react as Bones slung his arms outwards, generating another blade of energy that sliced right into Meta Knight and sent him flying backwards, a large gash now being carved into the side of his mask and forcing the small figure to skid back, retracting his wings while a bit of blood began seeping from the wound. Chopper gave a shocked gasp and began attempting to skid to a halt, Bones lifting up one of his bladed hands once more. "Spar Claw!"

Before he could land the attack on Chopper, however, Renji had landed and help up his weapon, blocking the slash and enabling Chopper to come to a halt. "D-...damn it..." Renji growled lowly.

"Pathetic," Bones uttered, narrowing his gaze slightly. "Your friends' concern for your lives will be your undoing; they should have escaped while I was busy with you instead of trying to wait for you all."

Renji grunted lowly again, Chopper looking up with a shocked expression. He was, however, cut off by the sound of Don Patch's voice. "Dun dadadaaaaaa, dadadadada, dadaaaaaaa!"

Chopper slowly glanced at the orange blob as he began literally flying forth towards Renji and Daz Bones, still wearing his super hero costume and seemingly singing a victorious tune. "Dun dadadaaaaaaa, dadadadadadaaaaaaa! Dun dun dun DAAAAAA, DA! Dun dun dun DAAAAAA, DA! Dun dun dun dadadaDAAAAAA! Dun dun dun duuuuuun!"

Renji glanced over his shoulder, watching as Don Patch abruptly curled up into a ball, shouting, "Have a taste of Hajike Man's Needlework!"

Chopper very quickly yanked Renji away as Don Patch turned his spiked back towards Daz Bones, extending the spikes towards him. The man blinked and quickly held up his arms, uttering once more, "Spider!"

Bones' body gave off another bright luster as the spikes sailed right past, some of them scraping against the man's skin before bouncing off. He narrowed his gaze, only to hear a faint chuckle behind him, not noticing the large figure of King Dedede looming behind him, hammer wound up in preparation for a swing. "Time to crush some Bonez..."

The man blinked in shock as Dedede plowed his hammer into the man's body, sending him crashing through the wall rather powerfully, seemingly breaking through several other walls while Chopper and Renji gawked at the result of the attack. "...wow."

"What?" Dedede asked rather proudly, punching his fist against his chest. "There IS muscle under all this penguin!"

"Forget it," Meta Knight uttered, standing back up and gently rubbing the cut on his face. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But what about Teresa?" Chopper squeaked nervously, shivering and looking over at Meta Knight.

Don Patch dropped rather unceremoniously onto the ground, Renji scooping him up and uttering, "Chopper, if one of the Army's lackies found us, then she was probably captured as well. We'll have to worry about rescuing her later, we have to get out of here ourselves right now!" Chopper had fallen silent, opening his mouth to offer a retort, only to be snatched up by Dedede, the group quickly beginning to dash off through the hallway they had been traversing prior.


	45. Divination

Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 45-Divination

The cell door was rather forcefully slammed as Victor re-entered, looking up with a glare at Yoshiro, who looked up from going through several runes placed in front of him on his bed. "How did it go?" Yoshiro uttered lowly.

The dragon shook his head and sat down on the bed across from Yoshiro, sighing lowly. "No dice. All I managed to do was piss off that tiny commander."

Yoshiro gave a slight nod and spread out the runes in front of him once more, Victor's gaze headed down towards the small pile. "...what're all those?"

"Magical runes."

"I'm not THAT stupid, I know what they are."

The Yoshi slowly glanced back up at Victor with a glazed expression. "...then why did you ask...?"

"I want to know what you're doing," Victor responded haughtily, folding his arms. "Trying to find a way out of here?"

"No," Yoshiro said plainly, leaning back up. "And if you wanted to know what I was doing, you should've asked me that instead of-"

"Well you know what I want NOW, answer the fucking question!" Victor snapped back, standing up and causing Yoshiro to sigh. The dragon himself sighed as well and sat back down, running a claw over his face. "Agh...sorry, all wound up with all of this going on..."

Yoshiro nodded before standing up as well. "Understandable. But for what I'm doing I'm going to need you to go to sleep."

Victor very slowly looked back up at Yoshiro with a curious expression. "...excuse me?"

"These are no ordinary magic runes," Yoshiro responded, his gaze going down to the pile for a few moments. "They're divination runes."

A few moments passed in silence, Yoshiro glancing back at Victor. "...you don't know what divination is, do you?"

"Not a damn clue," Victor responded flatly.

Yoshiro gave off another sigh and sat back down. "Divination is one of the shamanic arts I learned back in my village. Basically it enables us to interpret visions, find out what they mean and where they came from."

"Visions, huh?" Victor echoed, resting his head on one of his hands. "Like, seeing some dead guy talking to you, or having a weird dream?" Yoshiro nodded, Victor furrowing his brow. "What, did you have one of those funky visions?"

"No," the dinosaur responded, standing up and staring at Victor with a serious expression. "But I believe that you have."

Victor frowned slightly. "What're you talking abo-" The dragon's comment was halted and his memory jarred when the thought of his prior dreams came rearing through his mind; the battle with the ogre, the ominous dark cloud, the small yellow-eyed figure. "...how...how did you..."

"When we were in my village," Yoshiro explained, folding his arms. "And you were asleep, telling me that everything was fine after you woke up...you underestimate my insight, Victor. I was hoping that you'd be a little more open with me, but it appears I was mistaken."

The dragon fell silent, looking down with a frown and sigh as Yoshiro took a slight step forward. "Anyway, I attempted this on you once before, during the night before Kokira and her team arrived. But it failed. This time, however, I'm confident we might have a different result."

"Alright, alright," Victor uttered slowly looking up at Yoshiro with a frown. "What do I have to do?"

**-Meanwhile-**

"Thanks again for all of your help, your Majesty."

Chopper gave a slight bow, Dedede folding his arms as the reindeer tilted his head back up. "We could get you in serious trouble for attempting to join the Army of Darkness, but I suppose rescuing us makes up for it," Renji added, folding his arms; the entire group now stood in what appeared to be the cockpit of King Dedede's airship, the expanse of the Solar Mountain Range before them.

"Eh, whatever," the large penguin murmured, waving a hand about and turning around. "You wouldn't be able to take me anyway." He turned around to the duo once again and smirked, jerking a finger towards himself. "Diplomatic immunity!"

At this time, a fairly catchy bass beat emanated seemingly from nowhere, followed by Don Patch leaping forward, wearing a leather jacket and leather pants. "Can't touch him!"

The beat continued while Don Patch began break dancing throughout the room, everyone glancing away from him back to the conversation at hand. "Do you think you could do us one more favor?" Chopper asked, glancing up at Dedede.

The penguin furrowed his brow and folded his arms, turning away and mumbling, "Gimme one reason why I should."

"Aiding the Celestial Alliance in this situation'll get you world-wide recognition, awards for your bravery, and will most certainly NOT be boring," Renji responded rather bluntly.

A few moments passed in silence, Dedede casually glancing at Meta Knight before turning back to Chopper and Renji. "...I'm listening."

"Prior to our abduction, we were planning on meeting with our allies in a town in Twilight Plains," Chopper began explaining, looking down. "On top of us needing to rescue Victor...I'm worried about whether or not Tails managed to escape or not."

"If you could take us to that town, then we'd be very grateful," Renji finished with a slight bow.

Dedede fell silent for a moment longer, smirking slightly and chuckling. "Oh, is that it? Pfft, that'll be easy!"

"But it could also mean the difference between Mysterra's destruction and survival," Chopper finished, giving another bow.

"Alright, alright," Dedede uttered, turning around to the orange creatures at the front. "Get us to Twilight Plains!"

The small orange creatures gave a salute, Meta Knight turning to the two captains. "We can give you a guest room. It should be more comfortable than a cage."

"Thank you," Chopper murmured, glancing at the still break dancing Don Patch. "Hey! Come on, let's get some sleep!"

"STOP!" Don Patch abruptly shouted, freezing in place and pointing at Don Patch. "HAJIKE TIME!"

The orange blob was abruptly yanked towards them by Renji, who began dragging the orange blob after Chopper and Meta Knight as they traversed down a hallway. The reindeer looked down with a dreary expression, murmuring, "Mm...I'm still worried about Teresa..."

Renji glanced at Chopper for a moment, retaining a serious expression. "She had to have been taken by the Army of Darkness...we'll be able to get her back, I'm sure of it."

"I hope so," Chopper mumbled, slowly looking up. "Victor'd kill me if something happened to his sister on my watch..."

**-Meanwhile-**

Not moments after being grabbed from behind, Teresa found herself in a new room, forced to the ground with a slight cough and grunt. "Gah! Where?!"

"Thank you." The dragonness slowly looked up at the familiar voice; she now found herself in a large, dark, stone room in front of the tall, menacing figure of Akumu. Standing at his side were various other figures Teresa didn't recognize; no doubt the Army's commanders. She cast a rather hateful glare at the large wolf, who took a small step towards her. "So good of you to stay behind, Teresa."

"Back off, creep!" Teresa growled, backing away with a glare. This comment was, however, left behind when she gave a slight blink in realization. "...wait...how do you know my name?"

Akumu gave off a low chuckle, closing his eyes and prompting Teresa to frown. "Hey! I'm asking you a question!"

"And you'll get your answer...eventually. For now, we have other things to attend to," Akumu responded, leaning back slightly. "Your brother Victor is on the execution stand. I must say, he's very sloppy to have enabled himself to get caught so easily."

"Subtlety was never Victor's strong point," Teresa spat back with a frown. "And what do you mean he's on the execution stand?"

Akumu gave off a slight sigh, sitting down on what seemed to be a throne at the end of the room. "I mean exactly that. He was captured by the Twilight Society. And since they still believe he stole the Twilight Essence, he is going to be executed tomorrow."

Teresa's glare turned into a horrified stare, her body trembling. "Wh-...what?!" The expression of anger returned, and she clenched her fists. "Y-you...you did this!" With this comment, Teresa began charging towards Akumu, extending her claws and preparing to lunge at the wolf. "I'll kill you!"

Akumu simply looked up, slowly lifting one of his clawed hands and causing it to adopt an eerie purple glow. Teresa gave a slight blink, only to watch as several black-colored whips emerged from the ground, ensnaring the dragoness's arms and dropping her rather abruptly to the ground, completely bound. "G-ghh?! What the?!"

"Calm yourself," Akumu uttered, very slowly standing up once more. "Victor will not die, if I have anything to say about it. He is the cornerstone of my entire plan." Teresa gave another surprised blink as Akumu bent down to her side, the dragoness able to see deep into his glowing yellow eyes. "...which makes you, as his sister, the perfect bait and leverage."

Teresa's eyes widened as Akumu stood back up, glancing over Teresa. "Get back to Twilight Plains. We must prepare for tomorrow."

"Yes sir," the rather droning male voice responded, Teresa barely able to register a gust of wind being kicked up as the figure vanished.

**-Meanwhile-**

"Alright, that's the last of it."

Yoshiro stepped back from the beds; he had pushed them together to enable enough room for all of his runes and Victor in case he thrashed about once more. Said dragon was currently laying on the two beds, looking at the many magical objects surrounding him. "So...explain to me again how this is going to work?" the dragon uttered rather bluntly.

Yoshiro gave a nod, reaching into his vest and pulling forth a small stone. "Once we're all set, you will inhale this powder, which should put you to sleep and make it easier for me to permeate your mind. From there, you just need to focus on recreating that dream."

Victor furrowed his brow with a slight sigh, leaning his head back. "Whatever you say...not too sure how I'm gonna do that, but..."

The dragon leaned back as Yoshiro crushed the powder, a small grayish-colored cloud wafting from it and surrounding the duo. Victor proceeded to take a deep breath, some of the powder quickly filtering into his snout as he exhaled, some of the dust now drifting from his mouth. Victor's eyes had began quickly drooping closed, the last thing he noticed being Yoshiro taking a meditative position across from him.

Not too long after completely blacking out, Victor's eyes snapped open, finding himself once more locked in battle with the massive ogre-like creature. Almost as if he had coordinated the fight, Victor matched the opponent blow for blow, both sides giving an occasional grunt and roar. Not too far away, Yoshiro abruptly appeared amidst a growing cloud, his body completely transparent and blue-tinted. The Yoshi looked around, uttering in an eerie, echoed voice, "Huh...Victor's mind is a pretty barren place."

"Tell me about it. I didn't have a lot to work with." Yoshiro's eyes widened and he quickly whirled around, soon taking notice of the completely shaded figure standing a distance away, the only aspect of them that wasn't pitch black being their bright yellow eyes. "I'd say this was a rude and unpleasant interruption, but..."

"I see now," Yoshiro uttered, seemingly summoning his bow from nowhere and pointing it at the figure. "This is no ordinary vision...it was induced by you. Whoever the hell you are."

The figure gave off a low chuckle, Victor now cutting down his enemy and turning to the duo, blinking. "Hey! You!"

The dragon approached the confrontation, the small figure responding, "That's right, I'm the one that's been purposefully giving Victor these visions. Though I wouldn't call them 'visions'...more along the lines of 'dreams with a message'."

Yoshiro narrowed his gaze and pulled the string of his bow back. "Don't try confusing us with riddles."

"Yeah! Get the hell out of my head!" Victor barked, stomping forth. "What are you doing here anyway?!"

The short figure slowly glanced at the duo once more, giving a sigh and closing his eyes. "I'm not leaving just yet, Victor, don't get your panties in a wad. I'd expect you'd be a little more thankful for me helping you."

Victor clenched his fists with a growl. "How the hell have you been helping me?! You've been giving me nightmares non-stop!"

"I've given you a rather vital piece of information, that's what I did," the figue responded haughtily, turning towards Victor with a serious expression in their eyes. "Victor, you are the only thing standing between Mysterra's destruction and the Army's defeat."

The dragon gave a surprised blink, Yoshiro narrowing his gaze and pulling his arrow back a little more. "And how do you know all of this...?"

"Let me finish," the small figure responded, waving a hand nonchalantly at Yoshiro and turning to face Victor. "Victor, your destiny has been intertwined with the Army of Darkness since before you were even born." The dragon's eyes widened slightly as the figure motioned towards him with a hand. "Now before you start calling me out for such big words, it's not magic or some prophecy that's behind it...it's your parents."

Victor gave off a slight blink, Yoshiro lowering his weapon ever so slightly and glancing at Victor. "Your...parents?"

"Teresa and I were told that our parents were killed in a raid," Victor responded, slowly looking up at the figure. "I think they're still alive out there. But even if they're not, I'm going to find out who killed them and exact my revenge."

The figure nodded slowly, lowering his hand. "Yes...well, they lied to you. Your parents were not killed in a random raid."

"And how do you know all about this?!" Victor snapped back angrily, stepping forth once more.

The figure's gaze narrowed in irritation, and he clenched both fists slightly. "Would you give me enough time to explain?!"

During this time, Yoshiro had looked up slightly, taking note of the dark clouds beginning to roll into the scene. He glanced back down as the short figure continued, "It is because of your parents that you are a part of the Army's plans! You alone are the deciding factor!"

"That's preposterous!" Victor shouted back, stomping on the ground as the sound of thunder began accompanying the clouds. "You can't honestly tell me that Mysterra's fate lies entirely with me!"

"It does, at least for now," the figure responded, lightning beginning to streak across the sky above them. "If not because you have to...then you'll eventually discover that you'll want to."

Victor furrowed his brow, gritting his teeth and uttering, "What the hell're you talking about...?"

A stray bolt of lightning abruptly smashed the ground, causing Yoshiro to jump slightly and turn back towards the small figure. "I think I understand now," the dinosaur uttered, pointing his weapon at the figue. "You must be one of the Army's goons. Here to try and deceive us with all this nonsensical talk."

The figure glanced at Yoshiro with a surprised expresison, mumbling, "Wha...?" Before anything more could be said, Yoshiro abruptly fired an arrow from the bow in his grasp, sailing right towards the figure's head. Right before it could impact, however, the arrow dissipated into dust, Yoshiro's eyes widening in shock. "You may be experienced at this little divination trick, but you're no Dream Traveler. This is MY area of expertise."

Yoshiro blinked and slowly lowered his weapon, Victor glaring at the small figure as he turned around, several more bolts of lightning streaking down, smashing the ground. "As I was saying...whether you like it or not, you must be Mysterra's savior, Victor. The Army wants you for their scheme, and as a result you're the only one that can stop it. Your parents...Victor, they-"

Before the figure could finish his sentence, a bolt of lightning crashed down on all three of them, a flash of light blinding them. The next thing either of them knew, Victor jerked up in his bed and Yoshiro toppled backwards off of it with a painful thud, the dragon shouting and finding himself sweating profusely. "Agh...agh..."

"Victor? Yoshiro? Are you two okay in there?" Kokira's voice called from a nearby cell, Yoshiro slowly looking up and massaging his head.

"Gah...yeah, we're fine..." the Yoshi mumbled bluntly, sitting up and glancing at Victor. "Victor...you alright?"

The dragon had by this time turned about and tossed his feet over the side of the bed, staring downwards. "What did he mean...my parents are involved...?"

"He had to have been one of the Army's goons trying to get in your head," Yoshiro responded, folding his arms. "...both figuratively and literally."

"Not too likely," Sakura's voice suddenly piped up from an adjacent cell. "If they were deep enough to influence Victor's dreams, what would've stopped them from taking complete control of his mind?"

Yoshiro shook his head in response, mumbling, "I'm not sure...not much else makes sense, why else would someone be-"

"Telling me something I need to know," Victor uttered, now staring at the ground with a rather serious expression. "Something I WANTED to know."

Yoshiro glanced back at Victor with a small blink, murmuring, "What're you talking about...?"

"My parents. Somehow, their whereabouts has to do with the Army of Darkness," Victor responded, turning towards Yoshiro with the same serious expression. "A reason that I would WANT to fight against them...to be the one to take them down...I understand now."

Victor very slowly stood up at this, keeping his gaze down and clenching his fists. "My parents...they weren't killed in a raid at all." The dragon glanced back up, his serious expression now melded with one of stoic fury. "...they were killed by the Army of Darkness."


End file.
